


prig, #en, ^, ^, amtp; 3aetireb. 

(Cfjief of (gngineers!, m, ^. ^., 19X0=1913) 



THE UTILITY OF 

ALL KINDS OF 

HIGHER SCHOOLING 



AN INVESTIGATION BY 

RfrrCRANE 



CHICAGO, 1909 






Transfer 
Engineers School LI by. 
June 29,1931 




PREFACE. 

Part One of this book was published first in 1902, 
and so much interest was shown in the original edition 
that a second printing was needed in 1903 — this edi- 
tion giving results of my further investigations as to 
the utility of an academic or classical education for 
young men who have to earn their own living, and 
who expect to pursue a commercial or industrial career. 

As my position on this subject seemed to meet with 
general endorsement, and long experience and observa- 
tion had given me the impression that the value of 
nearly all other branches of higher education was 
greatly overestimated, I concluded to go into a gen- 
eral investigation of the subject, in order to ascertain 
just what the facts are, and have investigated and 
studied the following: 

Technical Education in Manufacturing. 

Technical Education in Civil Engineering. 

Technical Education in Electrical Engineering. 

Agricultural Colleges. 

Manual Training in the High Schools. 

Business Education. 

Medical Education. 

Scientific Education. 

Rural Schools. 

The results of these investigations are now added 
to the third edition of Part One, as Part Two of the 
present book. 



4 PREFACE. 

I have undertaken all of my investigations just as 
I would g"o about any piece of mechanical work, or as 
I would consider any business proposition — system- 
atically, deliberately, and with the purpose of getting 
to the point by the shortest way possible, and it will 
be found that I have used no immaterial matter and 
no unnecessary words. 

R. T. C. 



CONTENTS 



PART ONE 

INTRODUCTORY TO PART ONE. 

CHAPTER I. 

HERBERT SPENCER'S OPINION OF A CLASSICAL 
EDUCATION. 

PAQES 

Spencer's views on classical education — Doctor Eliot's 

" five-foot shelf of books " 20-22 

CHAPTER H. 

OPINIONS OF COLLEGE MEN. 

A statement of the case — Copy of letter sent to col- 
lege presidents — Replies from Charles W. Eliot, 
Arthur T. Hadley, Francis L. Patton, Nicholas M. 
Butler, G. Stanley Hall, J. B. Angell, A. S. Draper, 
William R. Harper, Benjamin Ide Wheeler, G. 
Maclean, E. H. Griffin, E. Benjamin Andrews and 
Dr. D. S. Jordan — What the replies show 23-38 

CHAPTER HI. 

OPINIONS OF COLLEGE GRADUATES. 

Copy of letter sent to college graduates — Answers 
tabulated, and certain deductions — Loyalty to the 
college — Value of the evidence — Prejudice against 
college graduates — Conflicting opinions of two 
graduates — Failure to answer — Second letter of 
inquiry 39-47 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 
OPINIONS OF BUSINESS MEN. 

FAOES 

Copy of letter sent to one hundred business men — 

Answers from forty-one firms and business men. . . 48-78 

CHAPTER V. 

CRITICISMS ON THE FOREGOING LETTERS. 

Criticisms — Certain deductions — Railroad men — "Ever}'- 
thing else being equal " — " Would depend on the 
boy" — The usual method of employing — A col- 
lege graduate's experience 79-89 

CHAPTER VI. 

FURTHER MISREPRESENTATIONS OF EDUCATORS. 

President Jordan's extravagant claims — • College cap- 
tains of industry — The testimony of Mr. Andrew 

Carnegie — Professor Chaplin's fatal admissions — 

Reply to Professor Clark relating to commercial 
education 90-97 

CHAPTER VII. 

GENERAL DISCUSSION OF THE SUBJECT. 

Words of wisdom — The importance of starting right — 
Cost of a college education — College conceit and 
pessimism — Object of education — The maximum 
of happiness — Happiness from success — False 
pride — When is a man educated? — The best col- 
lege is the world — College men have no special 
ability — Educators do not agree — A practical sur- 
render — " College aristocracy " — Colleges pat- 
ronized by the rich — Top-heavy education 98-117 



PAGES 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VIII. 
PROFESSIONAL MEN. 
Vj, The value of professional education — Lawyers 1 18-120 

CHAPTER IX. 
COLLEGE EDUCATION AND CHARACTER BUILDING. 

An exploded idea — Claim of colleges as character 
builders — Have collegians superior character ? — 
What students should be warned against — The 
indifference of the college — Danger of exclusive- 
ness — A comparison with savages — Why do stu- 
dents degenerate? — Herbert Spencer's opinion — 
Character that football builds — Character tested 
by deeds — Dr. Virchow's verdict — Character in 
the Medical Profession 121-133 

CHAPTER X. 
THE MAKING OF STATESMEN AND ORATORS. 

, Early education in Illinois — Notable array of states- 
men from that State — How much schooling is 
enough ? I34-I37 

CHAPTER XL 

SOME VIEWS OF OTHER INVESTIGATORS. 

" The disadvantages of education," an English critic's 
observations — Dr. Woodrow Wilson's opinion — 
Joseph Chamberlain on progress and character. .. .138-147 

CHAPTER XII. 
CONCLUDING COMMENTS ON PART ONE. 

A thankless task — Facts, not theories, the chief pur- 
pose — The educator and the merchant who sells 
" shoddy " goods 148-149 



8 CONTENTS. 

PART TWO 

INTRODUCTORY TO PART TWO. 

CHAPTER I. 
TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN MANUFACTURING. 

FAQES 

Value of the practical — Danger of impractical things 

— Where technical schools fail — No need to fear 
Germany 155-160 

CHAPTER H. 

TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN ENGINEERING. 

How technical schools have grown — Where the dan- 
ger lies — Field for technical schools — Small- 
salaried professors 161-167 

CHAPTER HI. 

THE FIELD FOR ENGINEERS. 

Uncommon brain capacity needed — Big cost for small 
results — Engineering in England — An array of 
brilliant men — Rennie, Telford, Brunei, Smeaton, 
Brindley, Barlow — The first Thames tunnel — 
Important problems solved — American engineers; 
Geddes, Wright, Jarvis, Eads, Howe — The Erie 
canal — Croton aqueduct — Dry dock at Brook- 
lyn — The great Eads bridge at St. Louis — The 
Mormon temple — Work of practical men — Work 
of technical men — John A. Roebling — The Brook- 
lyn bridge — Old principles employed — Roebling's 
tribute to the practical man — New York tunnel 
work — Refuge for technical-school graduates — 
Size of a project not very important — Great build- 
ings of the past — Theory may be got from books 

— Results of an inquiry — Advantages of factory 
training — Wrong meaning of "demand" 168-189 



CONTENTS. 9 

CHAPTER IV. 

TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN ELECTRICAL ENGI- 
NEERING. 

PACKS 

Too many electrical engineers for the demand — Schools 
of small importance — Definitions of an electrical 
engineer — Some obsolete teaching — Narrow limit 
of efficiency — Requirements for an all-around en- 
gineer — How the colleges fail to supply these — 
The " engineer " apprentice " — Must be developed 
by practical work — A broad difference pointed out 
— One system of making electrical engineers that 
failed — A theory of cooperation — A serious 
question — General Electric Company's estimate of 
technical-school graduates gauged by the pay given 
them — A valuable suggestion — An absurd propo- 
sition — Value of association — Advantage of shop 
training for electrical engineering — How discon- 
tent is bred — Substitute for the college — Text- 
books prepared by practical men 190-211 

CHAPTER V. 

MEDICAL EDUCATION. 

Overproduction of lawyers — Cussedness of this line of 
education — Overcrowding of the medical profes- 
sion — Facts from a reliable source — Swindling 
resorted to by some high-grade doctors 212-222 

CHAPTER VI. 

SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION — IS IT IMPORTANT IN 
THE PRODUCTION OF SCIENTIFIC OR PHE- 
NOMENAL DISCOVERIES OR INVENTIONS? 

Discoveries and inventions classified — Some mistaken 
ideas — Unjust toward practical man — A puzzling 
question — What history shows — The research 
fad 223-228 



10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE PENNSYLVANIA COMPANY AND TECHNICAL- 
SCHOOL GRADUATES. 

PA.GES 

One of the chief sinners — One opinion out of fifty — 
A few pointed questions — Railroad men made 
" while you wait " — Small amount of experience 
— Incompetent advisers — Insufficient training — Re- 
quirements for roundhouse — Qualifications not 
common — The only one competent to judge — 
Making the best men — Preparing good help — How 
to encourage loyalty — No science in railroading — 
Facts against fancy — A practical suggestion — Let- 
ters from President Thwing 229-246 

CHAPTER VIII. 
CARNEGIE AND TECHNICAL SCHOOLS. 

Mr. Carnegie's opinions versus his practice — Those 
who win not college graduates — A letter from Mr. 
Carnegie — Comment — Credit withheld where due 

— A lack of frankness — Foundation of the matter 

— One serious blunder 247-257 

CHAPTER IX. 

MANUAL TRAINING IN OUR PUBLIC GRAMMAR- 
SCHOOLS. 

Fundamental purpose of education — Real captains of 
industry — Wide field for the all-around mechanic 

— Manual training distinct from the grammar 
grades, cousin to technical courses — One Chicago 
experiment that failed — Given a full and fair 
trial — Boys spoiled, not helped — Education for 
business — Weakening the foundation — The trade 
school unnecessary — Marked industrial changes — 
No school can teach a trade — How Crane Co. 
trains apprentices — System that holds the boys — 
No lack of mechanics — Trade schools do more 

harm than good 258-269 



CONTENTS. 11 

CHAPTER X. 

AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLING — DO ITS RESULTS 
JUSTIFY ITS EXPENSE? 

PAGE 3 

What agricultural colleges cost — Reasonable to ask 
proof — Allowance for exaggeration — Greatest of 
our industries — Why has the crop yield fallen ? — 
College men questioned — The voices of several 
colleges — Where the colleges are lacking — Plenty 
of successful farms — More light needed — Value 
of agricultural college work not conclusive — 
Questions asked of farmers — Classifying the an- 
swers — Colleges as sources of information — Some- 
thing about fertilizing — Stock-feeding a special 
business — What the "No's" have to say — The 
fundamental things — Short agricultural course fails 
to justify its claims — What does the farmer need? 

— The point for comparison — ; Breeding, judging, 
care and management of stock — Feeds and feeding 

— One useless book — Veterinary science — Soils 

— Plant life and horticulture — Farm dairying — 
Agricultural chemistry — Bacteriology — Farm book- 
keeping and business accounts — Agricultural eco- 
nomics — Farm crops — Agricultural engineering, 
practical mechanics — Nothing practical from ex- 
periment stations — An oversupply of literature — 
Training of teachers — Analysis of experimental 
station bulletins — An unnecessary expense — Promi- 
nence of the impracticable — Some extravagant 
claims — Something to be taught — Education the 
farmer needs 270-302 

CHAPTER XI. 

HOW THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN DEFRAUDS 
THE STATE. 

Some reckless statements — The alleged yield of corn 

— Report shows increase — Planted in better land 

— Nothing given on experiments — No comparison 



12 CONTENTS. 

PAOEB 

made — A backward operation — What corn does 
well? — Regarding barley — Censure is merited — 
Farmers long ahead of the University's experi- 
ments 303-313 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE RURAL SCHOOL — A SADLY NEGLECTED 
FOUNDATION. 

Is all Wisconsin "literally educated?" — A strong 
array of facts to the contrary — Saving $5 a year 
on the teacher — A condition far too general — An 
inevitable combination — Suppressed official reports 
— Teachers' needs versus the price of a cow — 
Drawing the boy from the farm — Education given 
farmers' children — Other States far ahead of 
Wisconsin in rural education — The district schools 
of Illinois — Dean Davenport's plea in the wrong 
direction — " Barking " for the " side-shows " — 
Working at the wrong end of the problem — Frank 
testimony of A. F. Nightingale, of Cook county, 
Illinois — A suggestion to Wisconsin rural-school 
authorities 314-328 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER. 

All schooling above the public grammar grades worse 
than useless — The practical man and the higher 
educator compared — Cheap teachers to produce 
high-priced business men — Give the professors a 
chance to earn an honest living 329-331 



PART ONE 

THE UTILITY OF AN ACADEMIC OR 
CLASSICAL EDUCATION FOR YOUNG 
MEN WHO HAVE TO EARN THEIR 
OWN LIVING AND WHO EXPECT 
TO PURSUE A COMMERCIAL LIFE 



INTRODUCTORY TO PART ONE. 

My object in republishing and revising this part is 
twofold: First. The subject of education, in itself, 
is of the highest importance, and one on which I 
maintain the public at large holds anything but sound 
and sensible views. Second. Every boy and young 
man has a right to know the facts — to know exactly 
what higher education is prepared to give in exchange 
for his time and money. 

In the term " higher education " I include every- 
thing beyond the grammar grades of the public 
schools. 

In investigating the so-called higher educational 
institutions — including always the high schools — one 
is impressed by their enormous growth within the last 
half-century. 

Fifty years ago comparatively few high schools, 
colleges and universities were in existence in the 
United States. To-day, as shown by the reports of the 
Commissioner of Education, at Washington, there are 
some 577 universities and colleges. The value of the 
property held by these institutions aggregates about 
$554,000,000, and they have enrolled in the neighbor- 
hood of 250,000 students. In the 9,560 secondary 
schools there are nearly 1,000,000 pupils. 
I As the secondary schools and colleges between 
lem demand eight years of a youth's life — and 



16 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 



/ eig 



;ight of his best years at that — to say nothing of the 

/ money cost of his tuition and the money he might 

/ earn during those eight years, estimated at about $io,- 

/ 000 in all — surely it is proper to ask what this higher 

I education has to give the boy, and whether this edu- 

1 cational equipment is going to make him more fit for 

I earning his living than is the lad who goes directly 

I into his life's work from the common grammar schools. 

The value of education largely is a matter of 
individual opinion. But its real value may be approx- 
imated somewhat by getting the preponderance of 
opinion, as to its utility, from unbiased men who are 
in the best position to judge. This course I have 
followed throughout my inquiries, as I have felt that 
individual opinions, no matter from how high authority 
they come, would have but little weight in the settle- 
ment of this question. 

Another reasonable way of judging of the impor- 
tance of higher education is to go back to a time when 
we had little of it and see if humanity is any better off 
to-day — materially, intellectually and morally — than 
it was then. 

I think it is safe to say here that this country has 
made the most wonderful progress in its history, in 
all general lines conducive to prosperity and happiness, 
during the last fifty years. And it is equally safe to 
say that higher education had little or nothing to do 
with this condition, for practically none of the men 
to be credited with this advancement had more than 
a grammar-school education. 

This being true, the question naturally arises : Is 
it advisable to rush into such extensive and expensive 
experiments in higher education when such marked 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 17 

progress has been made without it, and when the great 
employers of the country, almost to a man, show no 
disposition to give preference to the products of higher 
education ? 

Isn't it the part of wisdom and prudence to look 
around and study the results of all this higher educa- 
tion? Shouldn't it be perfectly clear that in seeking 
an education you are getting what you pay for? No 
one would buy millions of dollars' worth of merchan- 
dise without knowing its actual value. 

It is the purpose of this book to give the results of 
such a study, to expose the falsity and extravagance 
of the claims made by the higher educational institu- 
tions, to set young men to thinking clearly for them- 
selves, and to mold public opinion to the point of 
demanding that the high schools, colleges and uni- 
versities shall show clearly not only that they are 
doing good, but are doing it in proportion to their cost. 

My criticism of higher education (first published in 
1902, and here reprinted slightly revised as Part One) 
stands more solidly than when it was first written. It 
has not been, and can not be, assailed successfully. 

The soundness of the work has been endorsed on 
every side, and my position has been strengthened fur- 
ther by the general popular denunciation of colleges, 
and the widespread, sharp criticism of our high-school 
system, that have grown so common of late. 

In this book, while I criticize education, it should 
be borne in mind that I make a great distinction 
between the terms education and schooling. School- 
ing is simply learning or memorizing a lot of unim- 
portant things, while by education I mean knowing 

important things. 
2 



18 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

I realize that in discussing this question I am at a 
decided disadvantage for several reasons : 

First. In questioning the utility of college work in 
any department, the natural inference is that I must 
favor ignorance. 

Second. Popular sentiment is in favor of colleges, 
because a great many people, if they do not favor col- 
leges on account of the benefit of the schooling to the 
student, favor them as being highly ornamental. 

But before I finish this question, I think my readers 
will see that I am quite as much in favor of education 
as mast people are, and a great deal more than some 
who pretend to favor it. 

The difiference between us is that I am in favor of 
the education that educates and consequently makes 
men valuable citizens, rather than the class of men that 
these institutions generally turn out. 

It may seem to some that, in commenting on the 
letters received in response to my inquiries, I am too 
severe at times ; but I think the candid reader will 
agree with me that in the main, at least, my opinions 
have not been expressed too strongly. 

I asked simple, straightforward questions. I 
expected direct, straightforward answers. Yet, in 
nearly all of the letters from college men, and in not 
a few of those from business men, the answers are 
vague and unsatisfying, and in some instances actually 
evasive. 

It has seemed to me that in some of the letters there 
is much " hedging," as though the writers did not wish 
to speak out honestly and clearly, for fear of offending 
their college friends. When such letters come from 
business men I feel that I am justified in criticizing 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 19 

them sharply, because they do not impress me as being 
frank. It looks as though this were one influence of 
the colleges that no amount of friendliness toward 
them should be able to commend. 



CHAPTER I. 

HERBERT SPENCER'S OPINION OF A 
CLASSICAL EDUCATION. 

Upon the subject of education, Mr. Herbert Spen- 
cer has the following to say : 

The remark is trite that in his shop, or in his office, in 
managing his estate or his family, in playing his part as 
director of a bank or a railway, he [the college graduate] 
is little aided by this knowledge he took so many years to 
acquire — so little that generally the greater part of it 
drops out of his memory. * * * 

If we inquire what is the real motive for giving boys 
a classical education, we find it to be simply conformity 
to public opinion. Men dress their children's minds as 
they do their bodies, in the prevailing fashion. * * * 

A boy's drilling in Latin and Greek is insisted on, not 
because of their intrinsic value, but that he may not be 
disgraced by being found ignorant of them — that he may 
have the " education of a gentleman " — the badge mark- 
ing a certain social position, and bringing a consequent 
respect. * * * 

To get above some and be reverenced by them, and 
to propitiate those who are above us, is the universal 
struggle in which the chief energies of life are expended. 
* * * 

Not what knowledge is of most real worth, is the con- 
sideration, but what will bring most applause, honor, 
respect — what will most conduce to social position and 
influence — what will be most imposing. As throughout 
life, not what we are but what we shall be thought, is the 
question; so in education the question is not the intrinsic 
value of knowledge so much as its extrinsic effects on 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 21 

others. And this being our dominant idea, direct utility 
is scarcely more regarded than by the barbarian when 
filing his teeth and staining his nails. * * * 

But we that have but span-long lives must ever bear in 
mind our limited time for acquisition. And remembering 
how narrowly this time is limited, not only by the short- 
ness of life but also still more by the business of life, we 
ought to be especially solicitous to employ what time we 
have to the greatest advantage. Before devoting years 
to some subject which fashion or fancy suggests, it is 
surely wise to weigh with great care the worth of the 
results, as compared with the worth of various alterna- 
tive results which the same years might bring if other- 
wise applied. 

Doctor Eliot's " Five-foot Shelf of Books." 

To the foregoing- I would add the following sig- 
nificant statement made recently by Dr. Charles W. 
Eliot, for forty years president, and now president 
emeritus, of Harvard University. 

After selecting from the best literature of the world 
a number of books that can be placed on a five-foot 
book shelf, Doctor Eliot says : 

It is my belief that the faithful and considerate read- 
ing of these books, with such rereadings and memorizings 
as individual taste may prescribe, will give any man the 
essentials of a liberal education, even if he can devote to 
them but fifteen minutes a day. 

This deliberate expression by a man who has spent 
his life in higher educational work coincides exactly 
with my own belief as expressed in several of my 
papers on education, and that is : Young men who 
wish to become enlightened or educated on any par- 
ticular subject may obtain from books all the knowl- 
edge required, provided they can find what books to 
read. Such persons do not need to be urged to read 



22 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

and study for themselves ; neither do they need to go 
to a teacher, for the teacher can tell them nothing 
more than they can find for themselves in the books. 

There is nothing specially remarkable in President 
Eliot's statement — except it be that he goes further 
than I have done in saying that not only may an edu- 
cation on special subjects be obtained from books, but 
also all the essentials of a " liberal education." 

Doubtless Doctor Eliot always has known this, as 
most reasonable persons have, but he has kept the 
knowledge to himself until now that he is practically 
through with active college work he thinks that he 
might as well be honest about the matter and give the 
public the benefit of his mature judgment. 

All educators must know this fact as well as Doctor 
Eliot, yet they go right along encouraging young men 
to spend their time and money going to college, when 
they might be earning their living, developing their 
character without the risks incident to college life, and 
getting the essentials of a liberal as well as a practical 
education from the best books of the world. 



CHAPTER II. 

OPINIONS OF COLLEGE MEN. 

It should be borne in mind that wherever college 
education is mentioned in Part One it refers exclu- 
sively to the so-called " academic " course, or the clas- 
sical and literary department. Too much emphasis can 
not be laid upon this distinction, for neglect of it is the 
cause of a large part of the confusion of thought and 
expression on this subject which is so prevalent among 
even the educated. By referring to the letter of 
Charles W. Eliot, on page 26, it appears that even so 
highly educated a gentleman as the former president 
of Harvard University confounds an academic course 
with scientific and technical courses. The reader is 
urged to avoid this mistake. 

The question whether an academic, or even a high- 
school course is of benefit to young men who have to 
make their own way in the business world and intend 
entering upon a commercial life, is one of such vital 
importance and is surrounded by so much doubt, that 
it is high time it was thoroughly investigated. If the 
facts are as many believe, these institutions are the 
cause of most serious error, if not of positive injury 
to this class of young men. 

A great deal has been written upon this subject, 
but, as far as I have been able to discover, the writers 
have given merely their opinions or theories, not facts. 
The great majority of college presidents agree in urg- 



24 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

ing the importance of college education for business 
men, as will be seen by reference to the letters quoted 
in the following pages from prominent educators. 

It has seemed to me that the testimony of a large 
number of heads of universities, college graduates, and 
prominent business men would be of great assistance 
in arriving at something tangible on this subject. I 
have, therefore, made an extensive investigation along 
this line, the results of which are here given, together 
with certain comments. First will be found a copy of 
a letter sent to the presidents of nineteen of the prin- 
cipal universities and colleges in this country, and the 
replies from all who answered ; which will show 
how little hght they are able to give on this subject. 

A Copy of the Letter Sent to College Presidents. 

Chicago, September 5, 1901. 
Dear Sir: 

The question of the utility of an academic course 
for young men who have to make their own living and 
ivho expect to pursue a commercial life, is one of the 
greatest importance, and as I am endeavoring to ascer- 
tain what the facts are in this matter, I should he very 
glad indeed if you would kindly favor me with an 
answer to the enclosed questions. 

Thanking you in advance for your attention to this 
matter, I am 

Yours truly, 

R. T. Crane. 

The Questions Asked. 

I. Is there, in your opinion, any evidence that such edu- 
cation is of any advantage to this class of young 
men? 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 25 

2. If SO, what evidence? 

3. Have you made any systematic effort to ascertain: 

[a] What success such college graduates have met 

with in securing positions? 

[b] How successful they have been after going into 

business? 

4. If question No. 3 is answered affirmatively, what have 

you found to be the facts? 

5. Can you mention any employers who, when seeking 

employees, are in the habit of asking, from the 
head of any college, information regarding stu- 
dents about to graduate, with the view of selecting 
their help from among such students? 

6. Please give an estimate of how much it costs your 

college to give a young man such a course of edu- 
cation. I do not mean by this simply the student's 
tuition, but you should also include interest on 
the plant, taxes, insurance, wear and tear, in fact 
everything that enters into the actual cost of run- 
ning the college. 

7. Can you give me the names and addresses of the sec- 

retaries of classes that were graduated from your 
college five to eight years ago? I may wish to 
obtain from them a list of their classmates, in 
order to make some inquiries of such young men, 
should the information received from the heads 
of the colleges be unsatisfactory. 

The Opinions of College Presidents. 
Six of the universities did not reply, vis.: 
Cornell University. 
Washington University, St. Louis. 
University of Pennsylvania. 
University of Wisconsin. 
University of Minnesota. 
University of Rochester. 

The repHes received from the others I give com- 
plete, with the exception of their answers to questions 



26 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

Nos. 6 and 7. The reason for omitting No. 6 will be 
found on page 99, Question No. 7, of course, is of 
no interest to the reader. 

In considering individual letters, I shall comment 
only on such ideas as are peculiar to one letter. The 
ideas the various writers have in common will be 
treated under a general head. 

CHARLES W. ELIOT, 
President of Harvard University. 

The question of the utility of an academic course for 
young men who are going into btisiness can not be intelli- 
gently discussed unless the term " academic course " be 
clearly defined. I understand it to comprehend any course 
of study in a college or scientific school which covers 
approximately the years from seventeen or eighteen to 
twenty or twenty-two. With this understanding of the 
term, there can be no question whatever that an academic 
course is in the highest degree desirable for capable young 
men who mean to make their living in business. By 
business I understand banking, transportation, manufac- 
turing, mining, large-scale farming, and engineering in all 
its branches. These occupations require nowadays, in all 
their higher levels, a trained mind, and a deal of appro- 
priate information. This training and information can 
only be acquired in colleges and scientific schools. A 
young man who is going into business had better take an 
academic course, in my sense of the term, if he has any 
mind to train. That is an indisputable proposition, and 
there is no use in discussing it. 

To get detailed evidence of the truth of these state- 
ments, I should advise you to procure a series of the tri- 
ennial or quinquennial class reports, which are published 
by the class secretaries at Harvard, and I suppose at other 
colleges. These reports give the occupations and mode of 
life of the members of a class, and even of persons who 
have been temporarily connected with the class. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 27 

By a careful examination of a series of these reports 
you will get abundant evidence that college and scientific 
school training nowadays is profitable, indeed, indispen- 
sable, to a young man going into the higher walks of busi- 
ness. To procure such a series from Harvard you had 
better apply to Mr. Jerome D. Greene, President's Secre- 
tary, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

This letter, from so high an authority, is such a 
perfect illustration of the weakness of the whole argu- 
ment on the affirmative side of my subject, and of the 
prevalent confusion of thought concerning it, that I 
give it special notice. 

Doctor Eliot's broad assertion that there is no use 
in debating the question, that it is best for a young 
man to take an academic course, no matter what busi- 
ness he is going into, is right in line with all the 
absurd positions these people take. That is, his idea 
is that we must accept his statement regardless of any 
evidence. 

In order to make out his case, Doctor Eliot is 
obliged to stretch the academic course to cover every 
department, classical, scientific or technical ; and then, 
with equal generosity, he tries to make "business" 
include farming, mining and engineering. Of course, 
all that has nothing to do with the case. 

The stretching of the academic course to include 
every department in a college or a scientific school, and 
also his broad definition of business, is absurd ; and 
there is no possible excuse for his not understanding 
m)' question and giving me a frank and honest answer. 

I think it only fair to say that he found himself, 
like all college men, unable to make a good showing, 
and that he stretched the question for the sake of mak- 
ing a better case. 



28 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

It is only too evident that the distinguished gentle- 
man has neither given the subject adequate thought, 
nor has he sufficient data on which to base an opinion. 
The reports to which he refers, giving " occupations 
and mode of life " of graduates, would necessarily be 
valueless in determining the question whether a clas- 
sical and literary education has assisted them to com- 
mercial success. 

In regard to his saying that we can procure infor- 
mation as to this feature from the class reports, I have 
gone all through that sort of thing, and the informa- 
tion obtained — as may be seen easily in this investi- 
gation — has been most unsatisfactory. It strikes me 
as being exceedingly strange that a man in such a posi- 
tion as Doctor Eliot does not show sufficient interest 
in his work to investigate the lives of his former 
scholars and outcome of their education, so as to know 
definitely the value of the schooling he has given. 
Then, in presenting his institution to the public, he 
could give definite information as to its value, instead 
of asking people to take it on faith. 

ARTHUR T. HADLEY, 

President of Yale University. 

We regard college education as of great advantage to 
the business man, as well as the professional man. This 
is not, however, because it enables him to make more 
money, but to have more influence and enjoyment with 
the same amount of money. It is this broader general 
object which distinguishes the college course from the 
purely technological one. 

The evidence is found in the actual position held by 
our graduates in the various cities in which they live. 
One of my most important objects in meeting the alumni 
associations throughout the country was to obtain a thor- 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 29 

ough basis of judgment on this point. It is obvious, how- 
ever, that the facts concerning this kind of success are not 
readily capable of tabulation. 

No systematic effort has been made to compare the 
success of our graduates in securing positions with the 
success of any similar body of men who had not been to 
college. 

We prefer not to publish a list of employers who are 
in the habit of consulting us. 

Regretting the absence of more detailed information, 
I remain, etc. 

President Hadley, like a number of others, speaks 
of education as tending largely to the producing of 
happiness. I think it would be pretty hard to prove 
this assertion, for education without a considerable 
supply of money has a tendency to lead to discontent 
rather than to happiness. 

But, even if it be true that education leads to hap- 
piness, why not distribute that happiness more equally 
by giving more education to the poorer classes of 
society, instead of by adding more to those who already 
have more than their share? 

The weakest point in President Hadley's letter is 
that he can not possibly get a clear idea of the value 
of college education to his graduates simply by meet- 
ing them at alumni meetings. 

If that is the main stress he puts on the value of 
" higher education," it seems to me it is due to the 
public that he should present some definite information 
on this subject. 

FRANCIS L. PATTON, 
President of Princeton University. 

In reply to your letter of September 5, I can only say 
that I believe that those who can afford to obtain a uni- 



30 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

varsity education should do so, no matter what their 
career is to be. I believe that those who intend to enter 
commercial life will not regret the years they may have 
spent in obtaining college education. But I can not 
answer the specific questions which you present to me, 
and I have no specific data to give you in reference to the 
subject. 

NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, 

President of Columbia University. 

I find myself unable to answer the questions contained 
in your circular letter of September 5 in detail, but may 
say that we have here abundant evidence that students 
who make good use of their opportunities, while under- 
graduates in college, are eagerly sought for in business 
positions. The man who does not make good use of his 
opportunities in college is in the same position as one who 
has neglected his opportunities elsewhere. 

Mr. Butler was asked to furnish the evidence that 
his " students who make good use of their opportuni- 
ties are eagerly sought for," and he failed to do so. 

G. STANLEY HALL, 

President of Clark University. 

I have too little detailed knowledge to answer your 
questions, and have made no systematic effort to ascertain 
such as your third question calls for. In general, my 
opinion is that the utility of an academic career for busi- 
ness purposes depends largely upon what kind of an acad- 
emic course is taken. On such a scale I fancy the old 
classical course would mark very low, and some of the 
modern technical and commercial courses and many of 
those in the sciences would mark very high. In these 
days of the elective system, an " academic course " has so 
wide a range of meaning as to be too indefinite to make 
results of much value, unless they are taken account of. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 31 

President Hall falls into the same error as Doctor 
Eliot in stretching " academic " to include technical 
and commercial courses. 

JAMES B. ANGELL, 
President of the University of Michigan. 

In answer to your inquiry about the utility of an 
academic course for young men who expect to pursue a 
commercial life, I beg leave to say that we have never 
undertaken to gather any statistics on this point. We know 
that a good many of our graduates are successful business 
men. Our general belief about the matter is simply this : 
that the more a man's intellectual powers are developed, 
the more capacity he has for any undertaking in life which 
calls for such powers. In other words, the more of a man 
one is, the more successful will he be in any worthy enter- 
prise. I have heard business men say that, although it 
seemed that the time spent in college compelled the grad- 
uate to start lower down the scale at the age say of 
twenty-one, than a young man who had entered as a clerk 
say at sixteen, yet that the former often showed so much 
capacity for comprehending new conditions and responsi- 
bilities that in the course of a few years he passed the 
other. I suppose this would not always be true. Much 
depends upon the personality in either case. 

A. S. DRAPER, 

President of the University of Illinois. 

I am in receipt of your favor of September 5. The 
subject to which your questions refer is one which, it 
seems to me, can not be adequately treated in the way 
you have adopted. I have no doubt that college training 
is of substantial value to men engaged in business life. 
I think the proofs of it are to be found without difficulty, 
and there are numerous evidences of it coming in one 
way and another to the officers of this university. At the 
same time these proofs and evidences can not be presented 



32 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

in form in answer to categorical questions, and, more- 
over, it would take some time and investigation to bring 
them together for presentation in any form. I should be 
very glad indeed to attempt the task when leisure would 
permit, if there seems to be any general demand for it, 
but under the circumstances in which I find myself at 
present I can not attempt it. 

Regretting that I am unable to render you a more 
substantial service just now, I am, etc. 

In my opinion, Mr. Draper could not spend his 
time in any better way than in trying to find out the 
value of his work. 

WILLIAM R. HARPER, 
President of the University of Chicago. 

Your letter of September 5 was duly received, and I 
beg to submit answers to the questions of your accom- 
panying circular : 

1. My opinion is that a college education is of decided 
advantage to young men who propose to enter business. 
This opinion finds a reflection in the College of Commerce 
and Administration, which the University of Chicago has 
established, a circular of which I send you under sep- 
arate cover. My opinion is founded upon the theory that 
a trained mind anywhere is able to do better work than 
an untrained mind, and while, under certain circum- 
stances, one who is working his way upward in a business 
from the lower positions may have a practical knowledge 
not at first possessed by the college graduate, yet, in the 
long run, at times when critical judgment and prompt 
decision are required, the one who has the broader out- 
look in an educational way ought to prove the more valu- 
able. 

2. The evidence in support of this opinion can not, 
perhaps, be presented specifically, but again and again 
students have come to the university to get additional 
training just because they have found that it was possible, 
in practical experience, for them to advance only so far. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 33 

A number of cases occur to me in which very able men 
have given up business positions which paid them well, 
because of the observation that those who had better edu- 
cations were advancing more rapidly and were able to 
command better salaries. 

3. No systematic effort has been made by the univer- 
sity to ascertain what success college graduates have met 
with in securing positions, or how successfully they have 
filled them after getting into business, but from my knowl- 
edge of the alumni of the University of Chicago, and of 
other institutions with which I have been connected, my . 
opinion is that while at the start there has been some dis- 
appointment in the realization of ambitions, yet in the . 
main, college graduates who have entered business have 
been as successful as could be expected. 

4. N. W. Harris & Co., of this city, have made inquiry 
at the University of Chicago for the names of any stu- 
dents about to graduate who desire to enter business, and 
we have been able to refer to them a number of excel- 
lent men who were accepted by them on our recommenda- 
tion, and who now are either employed by them or have 
been advanced to better positions because of the excellence 
of work done with them. 

Swift & Co., of this city, have employed a large num- 
ber of graduates of the University of Chicago, and stu- 
dents not graduates, who have been recommended to them 
by the university authorities. Letters of inquiry of a 
similar nature are received frequently from other business 
houses, these two mentioned being perhaps notable. 

President Harper also misconstrues my question of 
an academic education when he refers me to the Col- 
lege of Commerce and Administration. 

BENJAMIN I. WHEELER, 
President of the University of California. 

It is difficult to answer your letter of the 5th inst., 
because it is uncertain what you mean by " academic 
course." Within our academic course is included, for 



34 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

instance, work in mining, electricity, mechanics, etc. We 
put these studies on the same level with the humanistic 
studies leading to the degree of B. A. 

I think there is evidence that an education in commer- 
cial branches or in engineering is serviceable for j'oung 
men about to enter a commercial life. I think there is 
lack of evidence on the subject of the more general course 
of study, with the presumption against it. 

In addition to the letter above quoted, he answers 
in the negative to the question whether he has made 
any systematic effort to ascertain what success college 
graduates have met with in securing positions, and how 
successful they have been after going into business. 

The answers from the next four gentlemen are 
quoted as given on the inquiry sheet sent to them. 

GEORGE MACLEAN, 
President of the University of Iowa. 

In reply to the question whether, in his opinion, 
there is any evidence that such education is of advan- 
tage to this class of young men, he says : " Decidedly 
yes." 

To the request for evidence upon this point, he 
answers : " Statistics of * Who's Who,' articles by 
President Thwing, and observation in my circle of 
acquaintances." 

He states that no systematic effort has been made 
to ascertain what success such college graduates have 
met with in securing positions, or how successful they 
have been after going into business. 

In answer to the question whether he could name 
any employers who, when seeking employees, are in 
the habit of applying to colleges, he says : " Appli- 
cations not infrequent." 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 35 

EDWARD H. GRIFFIN, 
Dean of the College Faculty of Johns Hopkins University. 

President Ira Remsen, of the Johns Hopkins Uni- 
versity, stated that, as he had just assumed office and 
had had no experience that would help him to answer 
the questions, he had referred the inquiry to Edward 
H. Griffin, Dean of the College Faculty. This gentle- 
man replied as below. 

To the question whether there is, in his opinion, 
any evidence that such education is of any advantage 
to this class of young men, he answers : " Yes," the 
evidence being, as he states : " The successful careers 
of the vast majority of college graduates." 

How does he know they have been successful? 

In reply to the question whether he has made any 
systematic effort to ascertain what success such college 
graduates have met with in securing positions, and how 
successful they have been after going into business, he 
says : " I have made no such effort, but have followed 
the subsequent lives of most of my students and have 
been struck with the small percentage of failures." 

The question whether he can mention any employ- 
ers who apply to colleges when seeking help, he 
answers in the negative. 

E. BENJAMIN ANDREWS, 
Chancellor of the University of Nebraska. 

He replies " Yes " to the question whether, in his 
opinion, such education is of any advantage to this 
class of young men, and in response to the request 
for this evidence he says : " They get higher posi- 
tions, as a rule. This is not the highest advantage. 



36 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

The highest advantage is that they have an inner 
Ufe of enjoyment in reading, thinking, and under- 
standing things." 

Replying to the question whether he has made any 
systematic effort to ascertain what success such college 
men have met with in securing positions, he says : 
" No effort is needed to one in my business ; the facts 
are obvious." 

As to how successful they have been after going 
into business, he replies : " In the main, highly so." 
He further remarks : " Take a period of twenty or 
thirty years after graduation, and the well educated 
get and keep positions far more securely and regularly 
than others of the same ages." 

To the question whether he could mention any 
employers who are in the habit of applying to colleges 
when in need of help, he answers : " Yes, I could 
name a considerable number." 

When I wrote to President Andrews, requesting the 
names of this " considerable number," he replied that 
he guessed he had made it a little too strong; that he 
could name only two, and one of them was dead! 

DAVID STARR JORDAN, 
President of the Leland Stanford, Jr., University. 

In answer to the question whether, in his opinion, 
there is any evidence that such education is of any 
advantage to this class of young men, he says : " Such 
an education is of daily advantage to any man of 
brains and character." 

When asked for evidence on this point, he replies : 
" It gives not always better wages, but a broader 
horizon, a more refined taste, a saner judgment, and 
a higher range of friends." 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 37 

Answering the question whether he had made any 
systematic effort to ascertain the success such college 
graduates have met with in securing positions, and how 
successful they have been after going into business, he 
says : " Every one in any field finds a place as good 
as he is fit for, experience being also considered. I 
keep pretty close watch of our own graduates and 
know of no failures, but our graduates are too young 
to show many notable cases ; the first class was gradu- 
ated in 1895." 

In reply to the question whether he can mention 
any employers who are in the habit of applying to 
colleges when in need of help, he says : " Employers 
desiring engineers or teachers frequently make such 
applications." 

What the Replies Show. 

President Hadley, of Yale University; President 
Wheeler, of the University of California, and Presi- 
dent Hall, of Clark University, are the only ones who 
are frank enough to admit that the presumption is 
against the practical utility of an academic course for 
business men. 

Such admissions coming from three men so promi- 
nent ought to set people thinking and questioning the 
utility of the college education for a business man. In 
view of the fact that so many of their students would 
go into business, the natural tendency of college presi- 
dents would be to claim that their institutions had 
advantages in qualifying a man for business. 

All of the others appear to be positive that such 
education is of benefit to men in commercial life; but 
when asked for evidence to support this claim, few 
have attempted to furnish it, and such information as 



38 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

these few have offered is found, upon investigation, to 
amount to nothing. 

I leave it to the pubHc to judge whether the heads 
of these institutions have a proper appreciation of the 
importance of making accurate statements on this sub- 
ject. There is nothing in their letters to show that 
they have made any investigation to ascertain the true 
condition of the question. 

It certainly would not do for a business man to 
conduct his affairs in this way. If he turns out value- 
less goods and makes false statements about them, he 
very soon finds that it has a disastrous effect on his 
business. 



CHAPTER III. 
OPINIONS OF COLLEGE GRADUATES 

Next will be found a copy of an inquiry sent to 
the members of classes that had been graduated about 
seven years before from the following institutions : 

Yale University. University of Pennsylvania. 

Harvard University. University of Illinois. 

Cornell University. University of Iowa. 

Columbia University. University of Minnesota. 

Princeton University. University of Wisconsin. 

University of Chicago. University of Nebraska. 

University of Rochester. University of California. 

A Copy of the Letter Sent to College Graduates. 

The utility of an academic education for young men 
who have to earn their own living, and who expect 
to purstie a commercial life. 

Dear Sir: 

In connection with a paper that I am preparing 
upon this subject, I am desirous of obtaining from 
college graduates some definite information regarding 
the points mentioned on enclosed sheet. 

Those whom I particularly zvish to hear from are 
the graduates who entered upon a commercial career 
and were obliged to start out to make their own zvay 
in the world without the influence of either family or 



40 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

friends — in other words, without what is commonly 
called a " Pull." 

Not knowing the conditions that have surrounded 
the various members of your class in college, I am 
sending this letter to each of them. 

Of course, if you do not come under the list above 
referred to, your answers to these questions are not 
desired, but in that event I should be very glad if you 
woidd advise me of such fact. 

The subject I am investigating is one of so much 
interest and importance that I sincerely hope all to 
whom this letter applies will assist in this effort to 
arrive at a solution of the matter by furnishing the 
desired information. 

Thanking you in advance for your kind attention 
to this request, I am 

Yours tridy, 

R. T. Crane. 



The Questions Asked. 

1. When did you leave college? 

2. When did you first take a position after leaving col- 

lege? 

3. How many positions have you held? 

4. Length of time in each position? 

5. What was the nature of your work in the various 

positions ? 

6. Salary received in first position? 

7. Present salary? 

8. Was your college education of any advantage to you 

in obtaining a situation? 

9. Has it been of benefit to you in the performance of 

your duties and in securing advancement? 
10. What, in your opinion, would have been your posi- 
tion to-day, as compared with the place you now 
hold, had you, instead of going to college, started 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 41 

at that time in a position similar to the one you 
did obtain after leaving college ? 
II. If you had your life to live over, would you take a 
college course in preference to starting in busi- 
ness that much earlier? 

The Replies and Certain Deductions. 

Total number of letters sent to college graduates. . ..1,593 

Letters returned undelivered I2g 

Answers received 555 

Number not replying gog 

Of the 555 answers received, 490 were from stu- 
dents who have either taken up a professional or 
technical line of work, or who state that they do not 
come within the scope of this investigation. 

This leaves only sixty-five letters from the class 
of young men whom I particularly desired to reach, 
which is so small a proportion of the whole that the 
information furnished by them does not throw much 
light upon the subject. I will, however, tabulate their 
replies, so that the public may see what they have to 
say. 

In regard to the question concerning their present 
income, fourteen do not answer at all and twenty state 
that they are in business for themselves. The replies 
from the remaining thirty-one show that nearly all are 
doing very well on this score. 

The question whether a college education has been 
of benefit to them, in the performance of their duties 
and in securing advancement, is answered in the 
affirmative by fifty, and in the negative by seven. The 
others give no information upon this point. 

To the question whether their college education 
was of any advantage to them in obtaining a situation, 



42 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

thirty-two answer " Yes," and twenty-seven " No." 
The remainder either state that they do not know or 
make no reply whatever. 

When we consider the general spirit of loyalty 
toward the colleges which the students have exhibited 
in their letters, the fact that nearly one-half of the 
answers to this question are in the negative would 
seem to be sufficient evidence to settle this matter to 
the satisfaction of every one. 

In answer to the question — what, in their opinion, 
would have been their position to-day, as compared 
with the place they now hold, had they, instead of 
going to college, started at that time in a position sim- 
ilar to the one they did obtain after leaving college — 
twenty-seven believe it would have been inferior, four- 
teen that it would have been better, and thirteen that it 
would have been about the same. 

Loyalty to the College. 

Sixty out of the sixty-five say that, if they had their 
lives to live over, they would take a college course ; for 
even those who admit that they would be better off 
financially if they had not gone to college, claim that 
whatever they lose in this respect is more than com- 
pensated for by the college experience and the 
increased capacity which it has given them for enjoy- 
ing life. An extreme instance of this is seen in the case 
of one of these young men who states that upon leaving 
college he had neither pull nor capital ; that he thinks 
his college experience was of no material or direct 
benefit to him in securing a position ; that he finally 
drifted into the cattle business out West, in which he 
was unsuccessful, and that he is now out of a position. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 43 

Notwithstanding all this, and admitting, as he does, 
that had he continued in business instead of going to 
college, his financial condition undoubtedly would have 
been better than it is to-day, he says : 

I think I am safe in saying that if I had the decision 
to make over again I should again take the college edu- 
cation. It may not make great returns on the investment 
in actual money, but to the man who has the taste and 
determination it makes, I feel, adequate returns in the 
enlarged field he is given for the pursuits of his life with 
happiness to himself, and with some benefit to those about 
him. 

In further illustration of this feeling, I refer to a 
letter from a young man who has gone into the bank- 
ing business, and whose statements are quoted else- 
where in connection with another branch of the sub- 
ject. While he frankly acknowledges that his college 
education does not compensate for the lack of prac- 
tical training, and that, so far as his business is con- 
cerned, he would be better off if he had remained at 
home, still he says that, if he had his life to live over 
again, he would certainly go to college, " Since the 
satisfaction of a broader life makes up for financial 
loss." 

Value of the Evidence. 

Inasmuch as it is highly probable that the replies 
received represent that part of the 1,593 ^^^ addressed 
who are able to make the most favorable report, it may 
be fairly assumed that the sixty-five letters which are 
pertinent to our inquiry constitute the best showing 
which can be made on the affirmative side. From this 
point of view they can hardly be regarded as very 
strong evidence of the college graduate's success in 
business. 



44 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

But this evidence, such as it is, becomes still 
weaker in view of the nature of the replies made to the 
last question. It is evident that sixty out of the sixty- 
five believe that the intellectual advantages coming to 
them from college education are more valuable than 
financial success, and this bias has doubtless influenced 
their judgment in replying to questions 8, 9 and 10. 
For it is to be noticed that, in the answers to 8, 9 and 
10, we have no particulars or facts, but only the vague 
general judgment of the writers. 

Much more to the point are the positive statements 
by several that they really found a strong feeling 
among business men against employing college grad- 
uates, and that they were actually at a disadvantage 
on that account. 

Prejudice Against College Graduates. 

As one of them remarks : 

The man who has been trained to do certain work, 
says : " Will you hire me ? I can do this work." Col- 
lege graduates can only ask for a chance to try to do it. 
• * * * Judging from my own experience, a graduate 
of a college who should try to make his way in the world 
in commercial life, absolutely without influence of family 
or friends, would stand a poor chance in competition with 
the young man of equal age who had received a thor- 
ough business training. 

Another, who, upon leaving college, took up news- 
paper work, and is now proprietor of a paper, says : 

I belong most decidedly to the class you mention. In 
entering upon my business life, after completing my 
course, I found a strong feeling against the " College 
Graduate." I was actually at a disadvantage due to this 
prejudice. I have always guarded against any reference 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 45 

to my college work when in business circles, feeling that 
it was the discretion that is " the better part of valor." 
Of course, I am persuaded the drill at college has enabled 
me to make progress and enjoy to-day a broader life than 
would have been possible without it. 

Conflicting Opinions of Two Graduates. 

As an example of the conflicting opinions held by 
men in the same line of business, with regard to the 
benefits of a college education in a commercial life, I 
quote from letters received from two students who are 
now engaged in banking. 

The first, upon leaving college, became connected 
with a bank which his father (who received only a 
common-school education) had already built up into 
a successful concern. This young man says : 

Whatever success I may have received I attribute 
entirely to my course at college, where I learned to judge 
human nature in a way I could never have acquired else- 
where; also, the methods used to learn the college lessons 
I have been able to apply to other things and arrive at a 
rapid and accurate conclusion. I was also taught self- 
reliance, and to stick to a thing until it was accomplished. 

His opinion of what his position would be to-day, 
had he started in business at the time he entered col- 
lege, is expressed as follows : 

I would have been an undeveloped, narrow-minded 
bank clerk, and would never have achieved any of the 
success I may have done. College taught me to judge 
human nature, the most important thing in banking. 

This letter might seem, on superficial consideration, 
to constitute strong evidence for the affirmative, but 
most of its strength evaporates after more careful 
perusal. What the writer has to say about being an 



46 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

" undeveloped, narrow-minded bank clerk " if he had 
not gone to college, shows plainly that he, also, is con- 
founding intellectual advantages with financial suc- 
cess. Our investigation has to do with the latter only. 

The rest of what he says is more to the point, but 
the question whether college is a better place for learn- 
ing self-reliance and knowledge of human nature than 
the business world, is considered fully on page io8. 

The other banker says : " I unfortunately work in 
my father's bank, holding a position my education did 
not especially fit me for. Had I foreseen a business 
career, I am certain the college education I received 
could have been combined with other work that would 
have been of immense advantage to me. A literary 
and scientific education does not compensate me for 
the lack of practical knowledge." 

In regard to the question whether a college educa- 
tion has been a benefit to him in the performance of his 
duties, etc., he says : " No and yes — my general 
information has helped me, but my lack of special and 
local knowledge has hurt." 

With regard to his probable position had he not 
gone to college, he says : 

In a country bank thorough knowledge of local con- 
ditions and acquaintance with people, with proper cler- 
ical experience, is everything. I would be better off in 
this respect if I had stayed at home. 

Failure to Reply. 

I particularly requested in my letter to college men 
that all to whom this inquiry did not apply take the 
trouble so to inform me, for which purpose a return 
envelope, stamped and addressed, was enclosed. As 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 47 

so many who did reply seem to have been prompted by 
a spirit of fraternal feeling and of loyalty toward col- 
leges to go out of their way in order to say a good 
word for these institutions, I think it is proper to infer 
that the large number who refrained from answering 
had been unsuccessful in business and feared that an 
acknowledgment of this fact would be used to the 
disadvantage of colleges. Owing to their feeling of 
loyalty, they would not like to see this done. 

Second Letter of Inquiry. 

After the publication of the first edition of this 
book, Mr. A. C. Bartlett, in a letter to the Chicago 
Tribune, of February 4, 1902, took exception to the 
foregoing remarks regarding the young men who 
failed to answer my original inquiry, claiming that " in 
these days of printed circular letters upon all manner 
of subjects, the failure of a thousand to respond should 
hardly be attributed to a want of success." In order 
to find out, if possible, something about those gradu- 
ates, I then sent out letters of inquiry regarding them 
to people living in their vicinity. 

This later investigation brought in only 353 replies 
that contained any information, and as in most cases 
the answers were incomplete and unsatisfactory, it is 
of little value in the consideration of this subject. 
There is nothing in it to cause me to change the opin- 
ion expressed above regarding these young men. 



CHAPTER IV. 
OPINIONS OF BUSINESS MEN. 

The preceding pages have given the reader the best 
arguments that can be produced in favor of a clas- 
sical and literary education for business men, by the 
most prominent advocates thereof. But these need to 
be supplemented by the opinions of employers and 
practical business men. 

The judgments of college presidents and college 
graduates on such a subject are of necessity altogether 
theoretical, even when they are not biased. In all 
probability, no college president ever has been obliged 
to go into the open labor market, as a graduate, and 
compete with hundreds of others for a strictly business 
position; nor has he been an employer in strictly 
commercial lines. No man can be fully competent to 
understand, or to give reliable advice upon, the subject 
before us who never has had actual business experience 
either as employer or employee. 

It is the hard-fisted business men against whom the 
college graduate has to run if he wishes to succeed in 
the commercial world, and I regard them as the only 
men to whom you can look for any tangible and satis- 
factory information on the subject. If the subject 
interests you, I should advise you to read and weigh 
carefully what these men have to say. I think that in 
striving to settle this question you will find a great 
many stumbling-blocks in the form of false and mis- 
leading statements from various classes of people. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 49 

Even the replies of business men, as shown in the 
following pages, are often so indefinite as to be of no 
value for my purpose. No dependence can be placed 
upon any of them who fail to make their practice con- 
sistent with their theories. The student who should 
be influenced by their letters to go to college in the 
expectation that he would be graduated into a good 
business position, would find out too late that he had 
been woefully deceived by some of them. 

Copy of Letter Sent Out to One Hundred 
Business Men. 

The utility of an academic education for young men 
IV ho have to earn their own living and who expect 
to pursue a commercial life. 

Dear Sir: 

I am preparing a paper on the above subject, and 
as I am desirous of ascertaining what the facts actu- 
ally shozv with regard to the value of such education 
to young men who take up a commercial life, I am 
sending this letter to a number of the leading and rep- 
resentative men in various lines of business. 

Please bear in mind that this inquiry has reference 
to whether or not this education is a help to the success 
of such young men from a Commercial Standpoint 

ONLY. 

This subject, which is one of the greatest impor- 
tance, has been theorized upon too long. I am now 
endeavoring, in what I believe to be a straightf orivard , 
businesslike way, to get at its real status, and I feel it is 
due to the young men of this country who contemplate 
taking a college course that those who have practical 

4 



50 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

ideas about the matter should assist in its solution by 
answering these questions with great care. 

If any have theories regarding it that they are not 
acting upon in their own business, there is no objection 
to their stating them at the close of their letter, but 
what I am particularly desirous of obtaining is a reply 
to my questions. 

The persons I am aiming to reach are those who 
employ the help and have made a study of the subject, 
and should this letter get into the hands of others, I 
would request that they refer it tu the one in their 
establishment best qualified to furnish the desired 
information. 

It must be borne in mind that this inquiry does not 
have reference to the effect of education upon particu- 
larly bright boys, but simply the general run of them. 
Neither is consideration to be given to any regret 
which some especially successful men may feel because 
of not having received more education. These matters 
do not come within the range of this investigation. 

Thanking you in advance for your attention to this 
request, I am Yours truly, 

R. T. Crane. 

The Questions Asked. 

1. Have you any college men among your employees? 

2. If so, what proportion are they of your entire force 

of the same class, or of all classes of help in 
which such persons would likely be utilized? 

3. [a] In selecting help, do you give preference to 

college men? 
[hi Or do you avoid them? 

4. If you favor such men, is it your experience that 

they make better help than persons of about the 
same caliber who have no college education — 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 51 

that is, on account of having received such edu- 
cation ? 

[a] Do they show greater mental ability? 

[b] Do they advance more rapidly? 

[c] Are they generally of better character? 

5. [a] If you believe that the mental training which a 
young man receives in college tends to 
improve him and make him more valuable 
to you in your business, have you made a 
practice, when seeking employees, of apply- 
ing to the heads of colleges for informa- 
tion concerning students about to graduate, 
and selecting help from those whom they 
might recommend? 
[b] If not, why? 

(6th, 7th and 8th stricken out.) 
9- Do you consider that there is need of more than a 
grammar-school education in a general business 
life? 

10. Will not the work and experience that a young man 

obtains in any line of business develop the men- 
tal qualities required in that business fully as 
much as would a course in college? 

11. Estimating that it costs in the neighborborhood of 

$5,000 to go through college, would you advise 
a young man who had only this amount of 
money, to spend it for a college education? 

12. If you favor those who have had a college educa- 

tion, then take the case of two young men of 
equal age and mental caliber, one of whom 

(having had simply a grammar-school educa- 
tion) starts in business and the other goes to 
college. At the time the latter leaves college 

(assuming that the other were then worth $1,200 
a year to you), if it were possible to make a 
twenty-year contract with each of these young 
men for his services, how much more would you 
be willing to pay the college man for the twenty 
years ? 



52 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

(It should be remembered that the first young 
man has had about eight years' experience in the 
business at the time the latter leaves college.) 
13. Can you give me the names of any business men 
who are large employers of this class of help, 
and whose opinion upon this subject would be 
valuable ? 

Some of the replies from business men were short 
and clear-cut, and these are given in full. But in 
others the writers introduced so many conditions and 
complications that to quote their letters in full would 
be most confusing, and in order to avoid this I have 
given simply a brief synopsis of their answers. 

The Replies and Certain Deductions. 

MR. M. B. WALLACE, 

Secretary of Samuel Cupples Wooden Ware Company, 
St. Louis, Mo. 

Instead of quoting Mr. Wallace's answers to the 
various questions, I give a copy of the letter received 
from him, as this seems to express his views more 
clearly : 

Your circular letter of September 5 has been re- 
ceived, and I take pleasure in answering your inquiries 
on the subject of education of young men, and in further 
explaining my views on this subject will say that the 
greatest difficulty I have had in employing college men 
has been that, while they say when they want employ- 
ment that they are anxious to get down at the bottom of 
the ladder and work their, way up, still if they do not 
find themselves advanced more rapidly than is consistent 
with either good business or fairness to the other 
employees, who are in all probability just as capable as 
they are, they become dissatisfied, and do not think they 
are getting along fast enough. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 53 

The mistake most of them_ m.ake is that they have an 
idea they are smarter and are above the average class of 
employees, which immediately places them at a disad- 
vantage, as the feeling, of course, is promptly resented by 
the other employees, and, in whatever way they can, they 
make it harder for the college man to get along. 

As a general proposition, I would prefer not to have 
a college man, unless I was satisfied that it was necessary 
for him to work and that he would not become dissatis- 
fied too soon and want to change because he was not 
getting along fast enough. 

Your twelfth inquiry is one that is, to my mind, very 
hard to answer, and I do not believe that I or anybody 
else could even make a fair guess at which would be the 
more valuable man of the two at the end of twenty years. 
My impression, however, is that, if the young man was 
doing his work in a thoroughly satisfactory manner, I 
would prefer him rather than to take the risk on the latter. 

In summing up the whole situation, the college man, 
to my mind, is only a desirable employee when he is, as 
a few college men are, conscientious, hard-working, and 
willing to get down at the bottom and stay there for a 
sufficient length of time to work his way up. 

He gives the company's proportion of college men 
as about five per cent. 

MR. J. J. DAU, 

Vice-President of Reid, Murdoch & Company, 
Chicago, III. 

Instead of answering the specific questions, Mr. 
Dau writes the following letter : 

Referring to your recent inquiry upon the subject of 
university or higher education, we beg to say that, per- 
haps singularly enough, there has never been a college 
graduate at work in our forces. As far as expedient, 
we begin with boys at the age of sixteen and train them 
gradually to the field for which they show most efficiency. 
When employing a person later in life, it is naturally for 



54 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

certain duties in which he must have acquired training 
and experience elsewhere; but even then, and with all 
due respect, we obtain better results three times out of 
four from a man who has gained his knowledge in our 
own house. For a young man of more than average 
ability, we are in favor of the best education and plenty 
of it, but as you go down the scale the situation alters, 
and sometimes, as the saying is, " a good shoemaker is 
spoiled to make a poor preacher." 

Mr. Dau has the correct idea. Starting with the 
boy and making your own help is the only sensible way 
of running a business. 

MR. F. H. PEABODY, 
Of Kidder, Peabody & Company, Boston. 

The chance of getting himself successfully established 
in business, seems to me better for a young man who 
goes into a business establishment on graduating from 
school, say at the age of seventeen or eighteen, than that 
of a man who spends the four years from seventeen to 
twenty-one in college, and the chances of being efficient 
up to a certain point seem to me better than those of the 
college student. Coming to the higher grade of work, the 
chances seem to me about equal. 

Probably the management of our railroads illustrate 
as high a grade as any of business and executive ability, 
and the greatest managers of railroads in this country 
are men who, I believe, never had any college education. 
Edgar Thomson, President Roberts, Cornelius Vanderbilt, 
James F. Joy, C. P. Huntington, Mr. Plant and James J. 
Hill are instances, and Mr. Schwab, of the Steel Trust, 
I believe to be another in a dififerent line. 

But, if a man has the qualities which carry him up to 
the top in business, the college education seems to me 
likely to give him a line of valuable acquaintances, more 
tact in dealing with his fellow men, and more capacity 
for enjoying the intellectual part of life, than if he had 
grown up without it. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 55 

MR. EDWARD TOWNSEND, 
Cashier Importers' & Traders' National Bank, New York. 

I quote from his letter as follows : 

Of our entire force of over one hundred clerks we 
think we have but two college graduates, and they passed 
through one of the smaller colleges many years ago, and 
finished the course at a very early age. 

Our method, when we need to increase our force, has 
been for many years to take in boys just from school, 
of about sixteen years of age, without any previous busi- 
ness experience, and train them in our own methods, pro- 
moting them from time to time as the opportunity presents 
itself. This plan has worked very satisfactorily with us. 
We have found that the best material for our purpose 
has come from the middle-class young men who have to 
work to make a living. Other things being equal, we, of 
course, in selecting young men, take into consideration 
the education they have received, but at the age they 
enter our employ they are usually too young to have com- 
pleted a college course. 

MR. JAMES B. FORGAN, 
President of the First National Bank, Chicago. 

Mr. Forgan takes the ground that : " More depends 
on the man than his early education. A man's school- 
ing is, after all, the smallest part of his education," and 
it seems to be his rule to look to the man rather than 
to his education. 

He has taken considerable pains to ascertain the 
proportion of college men in his bank, and finds that 
it is from three and one-half to five and one-half per 
cent. 

He says that they do not give preference to nor do 
they avoid college men ; that they do not find that such 
men show greater mental ability or advance more 



56 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

rapidly than persons of about the same cahber who 
have not received a college education. 

While his answer to the question, " Will not the 
work and experience a young man obtains in any line 
of business develop the mental qualities required in 
that business fully as much as would a course in col- 
lege ? " is in the affirmative, and while he also says that 
he would not advise a young man who had only $5,000 
to spend it for a college education, if he intended to 
enter upon a business career, he still thinks that there 
is need of more than a grammar-school education in a 
general business life. 

MR. RO SWELL MILLER, 

Chairman of the Board of the Chicago, Milwaukee & 
St. Paul Railway Company, New York. 

Mr. Miller's answers to the questions all show 
that he is very decidedly of the opinion that a college 
education is of no value to a man in a business life. 

In closing he makes this remark : 
" I spent one year in college, and I consider it for- 
tunate that it was not more." 

MR. W. F. MERRILL, 

First Vice-President of the New York, New Haven & 
Hartford Railroad Company, New Haven, Conn. 

Mr. Merrill kindly answered the questions and also 
wrote several long letters, from which I quote the fol- 
lowing : 

It has been my experience that men with a college edu- 
cation make better help than men of about the same 
caliber who have not had that advantage, when they get 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 57 

to a point where their experience warrants putting them 
into advanced positions, and that it does not take them 
so long a time to get to a point where they can be safely- 
promoted. A college education gives a young man habits 
of study and application which are invaluable. He learns 
how to use his brains to better advantage than one who 
has not had that training. You might just as well say 
that an apprenticeship is of no value to a man who is 
going to follow a particular trade as to say, in the case 
of a man who is going to use his brains, it is not an 
advantage to him that he should learn how to use them 
logically by study. Brains are capable of development 
the same as muscles, and there is nothing that I know of 
that will develop brains any faster than systematic study. 
A well-trained mind thinks quicker and reaches results 
more speedily and more accurately. My experience is 
that educated men show greater mental ability for the 
reason that I have given above; that they can advance 
more rapidly, because they learn how to take advantage 
of the knowledge of others better, and because their edu- 
cation broadens their intellect. It also stimulates ambi- 
tion and strengthens character. I can not see why the 
broadening of a man's mind, even along general lines, 
should not help a person in a business career just as much 
as a professional one. The training and study of a col- 
lege education simply lays the foundation upon which a 
young man, who afterward goes into life, has to build the 
superstructure, and surely a college education strengthens 
that foundation to a very great degree. Of course, a rail- 
road prefers to employ men who have taken the course 
laid down in the technical colleges, but an academic 
course is exceedingly valuable to any young man who has 
a desire to rise above the average level. 

Mr. Merrill goes on to say that he does not think 
college men have been given an equal chance in large 
business concerns. I requested him to ascertain the 
number of college men he had among the station 
agents on one of the main divisions of his road, to 
which he replied that they had in the neighborhood 



58 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

of nine hundred stations, and he was quite sure that 
none of the station agents was a college graduate. 

The station agency of a good-sized town is a good 
place to use men of ability, and it is strange that it 
has not occurred to Mr. Merrill to try college grad- 
uates in such positions. 

MR. LUCIUS TUTTLE, 

President of the Boston & Maine Railroad Company, 
Boston, Mass. 

Mr. Tuttle does not answer the questions in detail, 
but writes the following letter : 

We have college men among our employees, but I am 
unable to tell you what proportion they constitute of our 
entire force of all classes of help. 

In selecting help we should give preference to a college- 
educated man, all other things being equal, and we have 
no prejudice against them. 

As a general thing, we find college-bred men capable 
of reaching a higher standard in the service in shorter 
time than those who lack the mental training that goes 
with education, provided they are willing to take hold in 
a subordinate place and work as others are willing to 
work who have not had their advantages. They, of 
course, show greater mental ability and advance more 
rapidly; and so far as we select them they are, I think, 
generally of better character. 

MR. GEORGE B. HARRIS, 

President of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad Company, Chicago, III. 

Mr. Harris made a very full reply to the questions, 
but misunderstood the particular line of my inquiry, 
and got a college education mixed up with other lines 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 59 

of education, so that a number of his answers do not 
apply. 

In reply to the question whether he gives preference 
to college men, he says : " We select those applicants 
who, all things considered, appear to be the most 
desirable." 

He is not so sure that college men show greater 
mental ability, but it is his impression that they are 
better trained and that they rise more rapidly than 
persons who have not attended college. 

He says they have some college men among their 
employees, but that he can not give the proportion, as 
no tally has been kept. 

In one of his letters he makes this statement : 

All things being equal, it is obvious that education is 
beneficial alike to employer and employee. Many men of 
unusually strong character and ability and little educa- 
tion, realizing their disadvantages, sometimes overcome 
them by diligence and pass well-educated but indolent 
men in the business race. This may mislead some people. 
There is no doubt, in my mind, that a good education is 
desirable and more necessary now than ever before. 

MR. JOHN C. WELLING, 

Vice-President of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, 
Chicago, III. 

My inquiry was first sent to the president of this 
road, Mr. Stuyvesant Fish, whose answers showed 
that he was in favor of college graduates ; but, think- 
ing more detailed information might be obtained from 
Mr. Welling, a copy of the letter was sent to him, 
and the following is the substance of his reply. 

He thinks that : " If young men are studious, the 
mental training received in college strengthens them " ; 



60 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

that college men " are fitted to fill more important 
positions, and can frequently be promoted more rapidly 
than men who have not had like advantages " ; and 
that " they are apt to be broader and stronger men and 
so better men." 

In answer to the question whether he gives pref- 
erence to college men, he says : " In some positions, 
yes ; in most positions, no." 

Notwithstanding his rather broad statement in 
favor of college education, he says the proportion of 
college men in their employ is very small, and that they 
do not apply to colleges when in need of help, the 
reason for this being : " It has never occurred to us to 
do so; besides, we always have numerous applications 
from young men fresh from college for positions of 
one sort or other." 

He believes that there is need of more than a 
grammar-school education in general business life, and 
says that " the necessity increases as the years go by." 

He thinks that, as a rule, the work and experience 
a young man obtains in any line of business will not 
develop the mental qualities required in that business 
as much as would a course in college. 

He " would not advise the average young man " 
(which, of course, is the sort of person to which this 
investigation applies ) " whose means are limited to 
$5,000, to spend it all in taking a regular academic 
course in college." 

In reply to my subsequent inquiry as to the num- 
ber of college men among the station agents on one 
of the main divisions of his road, he says that out 
of 199, eight took a partial course in college, and nine 
took a full college course. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 61 

MR. E. P. RIPLEY, 

President of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway 
System, Chicago, III. 

Mr. Ripley's replies seem to refer mainly to men 
having a technical education, and for that line of work 
he favors a college course. He does not answer any 
of the questions directly, and I have no means of judg- 
ing whether he is consistent in this matter or not. 

With regard to the proportion of college men in 
their employ, he says : " We have quite a number of 
college graduates among our 35,000 or more em- 
ployees, but, of course, they constitute a very small 
percentage of the whole." 

It seems to me that if he were consistent he would 
have made a special effort to give more information on 
this point. 

In his letter he says : 

I am of the opinion that college graduates are better 
equipped for general work, mental caliber and habits 
being the same, than noncoUegiates. 

Their mental processes are more likely to be accurate ; 
they have generally a clearer perception of the fitness of 
things, and can meet the public and deal with other men 
upon rather a better plane than a man who has not been 
through college. 

Having thus answered your questions as put, let me 
hasten to say that I am by no means of the opinion that 
every young man should be sent to college. While, as 
above stated, I would ordinarily give a college graduate 
the preference, yet it must be remembered that the four 
years spent in college, if spent in practical work, may 
result at the end of that time in giving a practical knowl- 
edge of a given business, which is better for the purpose 
of that particular business than a college education, and 
that all young men are not students, and many do not 
derive much benefit from a college course. 



62 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

Admitting that four years in business is better than 
four years in college, what about eight years, in which 
time a young man could learn the railroad business 
thoroughly ? 

MR. MARVIN HUGHITT, 

President of the Chicago & North Western Railway Company, 
Chicago, III. 

Mr. Hughitt says he can not reply with accuracy 
to my questions, not having the necessary information, 
and it is evident that this matter is one which has not 
interested him, nor received his attention. 

I quote from his letter as follows : 

The selection of help is made with regard to the appli- 
cant's competency for the position. 

I may say generally, however, that it is my conviction 
that a young man can not get too good an education. 
Whether it is to the disadvantage of a young man to 
devote the time necessary in obtaining a collegiate edu- 
cation, in preference to going at once into railroad or 
other work, depends to a very great degree, if not wholly, 
upon the " make-up " of the young man. And in the con- 
sideration of the advisability of the one course or the 
other, this question of the kind of " timber " a young man 
may be becomes a most important factor, in my judg- 
ment, in reaching a conclusion, considered both with re- 
gard to his school life and to his discharge of the duties 
pertaining to whatever line of work he may undertake. 

MR. E. C. SIMMONS, 
Of the Simmons Hardware Company, St. Louis, Mo. 

Mr. Simmons writes at considerable length, and 
when I say that he expresses himself very strongly 
on every phase of the question as being in favor of 
college education for business men, it is stating his 
position as exactly as if I quoted his entire letter. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 63 

I will simply say further that he states that a very 
small proportion of their force are college men, his 
reason being : " Comparatively speaking, there are but 
few people in St. Louis who send their sons to college, 
and the number applying for places is very limited." 

His correspondence develops the fact that he has 
been of his present opinion with regard to college men 
for only about three years. 

MR. A. C. HYMAN, 

President of Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Company, 

Chicago, III. 

Among his answers to the questions Mr. Bartlett 
says: 

First, considering what we deem natural qualifications, 
w^e give college-bred men the preference. 

We think college discipline a benefit. While they may 
not show greater mental ability, they do show mental 
training; as a consequence they advance more rapidly. 

Although his letters seem to indicate that he is 
very strongly of the opinion that college education 
is of value to young men, he apparently has not fol- 
lowed his theory in practice, for he says that they have 
few college men in their employ, the proportion being 
very small. 

MR. F. C. SMINK, 

Vice-President and General Manager of the Reading Iron 

Company, Reading, Pa. 

Mr. Smink does not answer the questions specif- 
ically, but writes a long letter, from which I quote as 
follows : 

I am decidedly of the opinion that what Chauncey M. 
Depew (who has written and expressed his views at more 
or less length upon this subject) is quoted as saying is 



64 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

absolutely true, to-wit : " Any young man equipped with 
a college education increases his chances of making a 
living and of a more rapid promotion in any line of busi- 
ness, two hundred to three hundred per cent, given that 
he possess the requisite amount of industry, energy and 
persistent application that characterize every successful 
business man." 

We have comparatively few college-bred men em- 
ployed in the many varied industries under my direc- 
tion and control, and their proportion to the whole is 
almost infinitesimal. Yet, in all new applications I invari- 
ably give preferential hearing to those graduated from 
some academic or collegiate institution. In the clerical 
or office field I now make it a rule that none be engaged, 
even down to the grade of office boy, who shall not at 
least be possessed of a high-school education. * * * 

One of the difficulties often met with in considering 
the applications of college graduates, even though they 
are poor and obliged to earn their own living, is that so 
many are unwilling to undergo that apprenticeship or 
preliminary training in acquiring the details of any serv- 
ice which is so necessary to fit them for higher offices. 
The drudgery and toil involved they seem to regard as 
menial, and generally want to start in on a higher rung 
of the ladder than their qualifications entitle them to. 
For this reason I think we are inclined to give prefer- 
ence, in our selections for advancement, to the men who 
rise from the ranks and who have become familiar with 
all the degrees and stages of manufacture, or have mas- 
tered the details of offices and counting-rooms, rather 
than to the men whose mental attributes, by reason of 
their higher education, may appear more brilliant and 
promising. 

Whether these lofty and erroneous ideas are incul- 
cated by present methods of training or the surrounding 
influences of our educational institutions I shall not at- 
tempt to say, but be that as it may, I think it has been 
clearly established that in all branches of finance, com- 
merce or manufacture the value of a college education 
invariably asserts itself. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 65 

MR. T. J. HYMAN, 

Secretary and Treasurer, Illinois Steel Company, 
Chicago, III. 

Specific answers are not given by Mr. Hyman, but 
in his letter he takes the view that the scope of my 
inquiry is too narrow. 

He seems to think that for ordinary Hnes of busi- 
ness or office work a grammar-school education is 
sufficient, but that for more advanced positions a col- 
lege education is essential, and that it would pay a 
young man to spend the time and money necessary to 
acquire it. 

However, for the class of men referred to in this 
investigation, he makes the following suggestion : 

In my own judgment, the ideal course for a young 
man who is dependent upon his own efforts, with the 
facilities that are now offered for study at home, is for 
him to engage in his chosen line of business and take up 
a course of reading or study whereby he can gain tech- 
nical and practical knowledge at the same time, and at 
the end of the given period of years he will be worth 
more to his employers than after the same number of 
years' study in college. 

MR. CYRUS H. McCORMICK, 

President of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, 
Chicago, III. 

Mr. McCormick did not answer the questions in 
detail, but wrote two or three brief letters, from which 
I quote the following : 

In general, I may say that we have many college men 
among our employees, but they would form only a small 
proportion of those engaged in similar work. In selecting 

6 



66 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

help we certainly would not avoid college men, but would 
rather give them the preference, believing that they would 
make quicker progress and show a better all-around 
ability than those who had not had the advantages of a 
college education. 

With the same endowment and under the same en- 
vironment and with the same opportunities, I should 
expect a college man to win over the man who had not 
had such advantages. 



MR. FRANKLIN MACVEAGH, 
Of Franklin MacVeagh & Company, Chicago, III. 

In reply to the question whether college men make 
better help than persons of about the same caliber Yjho 
have not had a college education, he says that, " other 
things being equal, a college education is an advan- 
tage " — same old chestnut ! 

He thinks college graduates do not show greater 
mental ability ; " only more mental discipline, suppos- 
ing natural abilities the same," and that they advance 
more rapidly. 

In reply to the question whether he considers that 
there is need of more than a grammar-school education 
in a general business life, he says : " I do not think 
you can get too much education in business life." 

Notwithstanding the fact that the foregoing an- 
swers would indicate that he rather favors a college 
education, he states that the proportion of college men 
in their employ is " very small indeed," and that he 
does not give such men preference when selecting help. 
Therefore, his preference for college education falls 
flat. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 67 

MR. A. ANTISDEL, 

General Manager of the American Express Company, 
Chicago, III. 

The letter from Mr. Antisdel seems to state his 
position so clearly that I quote it instead of giving his 
specific answers to the questions : 

This company employs comparatively few college men, 
and for the reason that we employ men of a younger age 
who have finished their course in common or high schools, 
and such men who show an aptitude are promoted from 
time to time, and most of the important positions of this 
company to-day are held by men who have not had the 
benefit of a college education, and who have risen from 
the ranks. While we have but few college men in our 
service, I believe the employees of the American Express 
Company are, as a rule, of a very high standard and will 
compare favorably with men occupying like positions in 
any other class of business. When we have occasion to 
take into our service new men of legal age, we should, 
everything else being equal, give the preference to the 
college men, for the reason that I believe their minds 
are better trained, and they acquire a knowledge of the 
business more rapidly and more comprehensively than 
men who have not had a college training. 

As to the character and habits of college men, I do 
not think they are any better than the class of men em- 
ployed by this company, and the principal reason why I 
should give preference to college men is that, as before 
stated, their minds are better trained, and they are able 
to acquire a knowledge of our business quicker and more 
comprehensively than men of limited education, and 
further, such college men have the capacity to expand 
and grow with the business and ultimately be qualified 
for occupying any position in the gift of the company. 

In his answers to the questions he states that he 
does not make a practice of applying to colleges when 



68 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

in need of help, and gives as a reason the fact that 
until recently he has not given the subject any particu- 
lar attention. 

ARMOUR & COMPANY, 
Chicago, III. 

The person replying does not answer the questions 
specifically, but has this to say in a general way: 

While not giving especial preference to college men, 
we feel that such education, when coupled with energy, 
adaptability in special directions, with other qualifica- 
tions which always render employees desirable, has a ten- 
dency to add greatly to general efficiency. * * * in 
selections for positions which do not involve expert train- 
ing, we do not give preference to college men, as such. 

MR. D. R. KINGSLEY, 

Third Vice-President New York Life Insurance Company, 
New York. 

He says he is unable to answer the questions, but 
writes in a general way as follows : 

College-bred men do not enter the company's service 
through the same avenue and do not begin at the same 
age, and there is almost no way in which anything like a 
fair comparison can be instituted between the two. 

We neither discriminate in favor of or against college- 
bred men. 

Of course, among the men who enter the company's 
service as office boys, there are no college-bred men. In 
the nature of things there could not be. These men make 
up our greatest source of supply. 

We, however, engage first and last a good many college- 
bred men, and our experience with them, in the particu- 
lar line of work they are set to do, has been entirely 
satisfactory. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 69 

MR. MILTON H. SMITH, 

President of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad 
Company, Louisville. 

Mr. Smith writes as follows : 

I am not in a position to reply to the questions pro- 
pounded, for the reason that this company fills all posi- 
tions in the service by promotion of employees ; only their 
fitness for the position in view being taken into account. 



MR. H. B. LEDYARD, 

President of the Michigan Central Railroad Company, 
Detroit, Mich. 

The writer does not answer the questions. He puts 
special stress, however, upon the scientific course, and 
does not give his views regarding an academic educa- 
tion. 

MR. A. S. WEINSHEIMER, 
Secretary of The Pullman Company, Chicago. 

In reply, Mr. Weinsheimer said : 

While we would be glad to be of service to you in this 
direction, we have never gathered any data in relation to 
our employees of the character which you mention, and 
I regret, therefore, that it would not be practicable for 
us to furnish you any information in the line of your 
investigation. 

MR. A. H. WIGGIN, 
Vice-President of the National Park Bank, New York. 

He says they have no college men in their employ. 



70 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

MR. W. H. LINCOLN, 

President of the Chamber of Commerce, Boston. 

The writer states that he has no college men among 
his employees ; that he prefers to take younger men. 

In reply to the question, " Will not the work and 
experience that a young man obtains in any line of 
business develop the mental qualities required in that 
business fully as much as would a course in college ? " 
he says : " Yes — especially experience. If a young 
man is ambitious, he will cultivate his mind in various 
ways." 

MR. FRANK E. PEABODY, 
Of Kidder, Peabody & Company, Boston. 

Mr. Peabody says he is unable to answer the ques- 
tions in detail, but writes a letter, from which we 
quote as follows : 

We have had quite a number of college men among 
our clerks; the number at present is, I think, eleven out 
of sixty-eight. 

Our general experience with them has been that they 
have either proved exceptionally efficient, or else, finding 
themselves unlikely to rise rapidly, have left us volun- 
tarily. * * * Most of the college men at present 
in our force have been with us but a few years. 

MR. PERCY STRAUS, 

With R. H. Macy & Company, New York. 

The writer states that they have very few college 
men among their employees, but does not give the 
proportion. 

In reply to the question whether they give pref- 
erence to college men when selecting help, he says : 
" We have in certain instances." 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 71 

He states that he thinks college men show greater 
mental ability and advance more rapidly than persons 
of about the same caliber who have not attended col- 
lege. He answers in the negative to the question, 
whether the work and experience that a young man 
receives in any line of business will develop the men- 
tal qualities required in that business as much as 
would a course in college. In the face of this, he 
says he does not consider that there is need of more 
than a grammar-school education in a general business 
life, and that he would not advise a young man who 
had only $5,000 to spend it for a college education. 



MR. F. N. BREWER, 
Manager, John Wanamaker Company, Philadelphia. 

We are not able to give exact information covering 
our entire force, but in certain departments, including 
those in which retail selling of goods is done, the Count- 
ing-room, Customers' Accounts, Auditing and Mail Order, 
in which a total of 542 men are at present employed, 
twenty-six are found to have passed through a full or 
partial college course. The othei' departments, such as 
Delivery, Packing-rooms, etc., would naturally show a 
smaller proportion of college men. 

The third question (A and B) does not consciously 
enter into the consideration of employment. No doubt 
the fact of a college course would lead us to expect 
greater intelligence and thus weigh in favor of an appli- 
cant, but this is not a question which is at all habitually 
considered. 

As you would judge from the reply to question three, 
we are hardly able to reply to question four, the differ- 
ence, if any, between college men and others not having 
been sufficiently marked in our experience to have im- 
pressed us. 



72 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

MR. ANDREW B. COBB, 
Of Stanton, Converse & Company, Boston. 

Mr. Cobb says that they have no college men in 
their employ, and that they prefer high-school boys. 
He thinks that : " As a rule, men out of college are no 
better fitted for business life, if as well, as boys from 
school, and they have to lose the four years of business 
training at a time when boys absorb rules and ideas 
very rapidly. Boys are more susceptible to training 
than college men." 

MR. R. M. FAIR, 

Manager, Marshall Field & Company (Wholesale), 
Chicago, III. 

Mr. Fair's answers to the questions all show that 
he is not a believer in college men. 

He states that the proportion of college men in their 
employ is five per cent. 

MR. JOHN V. FARWELL, JR., 

Treasurer of the John V. Farwell Company, 
Chicago, III. 

Mr. Farwell says that : " College men are apt to 
make a better impression with the better class of mer- 
chants whom they have as customers, while perhaps 
not as good with the average country merchant." 

He thinks " they show greater ability in deciding 
questions and in making sales and purchases, and on 
that account are likely to advance more rapidly." 

He does not, however, appear to be very enthusi- 
astic on the subject, for in reply to the question, 
whether the work and experience which a young man 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 73 

obtains in any line of business will develop the mental 
qualities required in that business fully as much as 
would a course in college, he says : " As a rule it will, 
considering the business qualities alone." 

He also states that their experience has been that 
the graduates of country high schools, with a year or 
two of experience in the retail dry goods business, 
make the best all-around men for them. 

Replying to the question, whether he w^ould recom- 
mend a young man with only $5,000 to spend it for a 
college education, he says : " On the basis of a money- 
making success, we do not believe we would so advise." 

Their proportion of college men, he says, is about 
five per cent. 

MR. W. C. THORNE, 

General Manager of Montgomery Ward & Company, 
Chicago. 

Mr. Thorne says that the proportion of college men 
in their employ is about ten per cent; that persons 
having a college education show greater mental ability 
and advance more rapidly than those of about the same 
caliber who have not attended college. He does not, 
however, give preference to college men ; in fact, he 
avoids them, except in the few cases where he finds 
they are willing to begin at the bottom of the ladder 
and work their way up. 

MR. ALBERT A. SPRAGUE, 
President of Sprague, Warner & Company, Chicago. 

Mr. Sprague does not answer the questions in full, 
but has this to say : 

I think the college education is neither a drawback 
nor an advantage in a commercial life, except in the 
greater resources it gives a man. 



74 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

A man's success depends more upon himself than on 
his education. 

He thinks that the college men who go into com- 
mercial life usually show greater mental ability than 
men without such education, and that " if they have 
the perseverance they advance more rapidly." 

He says that in selecting help he does not give 
preference to college men, nor does he avoid them ; 
that the proportion of college men in their employ is 
small. 

AMERICAN SUGAR REFINING COMPANY, 
New York. 

In reply they state that they have no college men 
in their employ, so can not answer the questions. 

MR. S. NORVELL, 

President of Norvell-Shapleigh Hardware Company, 
St. Louis, Mo. 

The writer says he does not give college men pref- 
erence, nor does he avoid them, and that the propor- 
tion of such men in their employ is not over five per 
cent. He thinks they do not show greater mental 
ability, and that they do not advance more rapidly. 

As to whether there is need of more than a gram- 
mar-school education in a general business life, he 
says: 

" Yes, if a man reaches the higher-grade positions 
— No, if he does not." 

Answering the question, whether the work and 
experience that a young man obtains in any line of 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 75 

business develop the mental qualities required in that 
business fully as much as would a course in college, he 
says: 

" Yes, but the development will be narrow, not 
broad. A man educated altogether in a business life, 
as a general thing, is more narrow in his views than a 
college-bred man." 

He would not advise a young man with only $5,000 
to spend it for a college education, if he intended to 
enter business. 

His answer to the last question is to the effect that 
he would not, as a general rule, favor the college man, 
but he thinks that, in a few cases, a man with a college 
education would be worth twenty-five per cent more 
to him than a man without such education. 

In addition to his answers to the questions, he 
makes the following general remarks : 

It may not be out of place to say, in concluding, that 
my observation of the work of college men has been that 
they lack concentration — they do not know how to econ- 
omize time. They are not willing to sacrifice present com- 
forts and convenience for the possibility of future gain. 
At college they do not seem to teach either the value of 
time or how it may be saved. After several years of 
leisure and the independence of a college life, a young 
man who enters one of our large, modern business houses 
finds himself sadly out of place and out of touch with 
his surroundings. 

It seems to me that it is a very natural result of the 
habits formed in college that so many college men find 
life on Western ranches, in mines, or in outdoor work 
generally more to their liking than the confinement and 
restrictions of a business house. * * * 

My experience in business with college men has not 
been in their favor. If I decide to have my son follow a 
business career, I will not send him to college. 



76 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

MR. E. S. CONWAY, 
Secretary of the W. W. Kimball Company, Chicago. 

Mr. Conway states that the proportion of college 
men in their employ is four per cent ; that he does not 
give preference to nor does he avoid college men, and 
that his experience has been that the college graduate 
does not, as a rule, show greater mental ability, but he 
thinks he should. 

In reply to the question, whether he thinks there is 
need of more than a grammar-school education in a 
general business life, he says : " We are sure that all 
else being equal, a college education should be an 
advantage to a young man entering business life." 

He closes his letter with the following remarks : 

If all young men who desire a college education, and 
are able to attain it, returning from college at twenty- 
two or twenty-three, with their feet flat on the ground, 
and a willingness on their part to begin at the bottom, 
working in the primary school of business with boys of 
fifteen or sixteen years of age, and never refer to the 
fact that they are college bred, but are content with the 
consciousness that they have a good foundation and apply 
their energies to their business undertaking, such college 
graduates will stand a good chance before middle life 
of passing the boy who began his business life five or 
six years earlier, but without the college education. 

In making the above statement, I wish to emphasize 
the fact that my own experience as to college men in 
business has been limited, for the reason that the major- 
ity begin with us at sixteen or seventeen and work up, 
or out. If the college man, with a literary education only, 
goes into business, he comes into competition with young 
men who have been learning business details for five or 
six years, which is a heavy handicap, and can only be 
overcome, if at all, by superior application, which is quite 
as likely to be developed by the boy who went out to 
work at sixteen. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 77 

Considering education in a broad way as training, not 
confined to colleges or classrooms, it is evident that the 
successful business man must have education, whether he 
acquire it at college or digs it out; but I believe that the 
qualities on which the successful business man depends 
— staying power, grasp, accurate knowledge of values 
and ability to execute — are not products of the class- 
room as distinguished from the shop and the office. 

MR. WILLIAM SELLERS, 
President of William Sellers Company, Incorporated, 

Philadelphia. 

Mr. Sellers states that he has a few college men in 
his employ, the proportion being about three-quarters 
of one per cent. 

His answers to the other questions are so coupled 
with conditions that I do not quote them, as they would 
throw no light on the subject. 

MR. HENRY W. CRAMP, 

Vice-President of the William Cramp & Sons Ship & 

Engine Building Company, Philadelphia. 

Without taking up seriatim your questions as to the 
employment here of college men, or men who have not 
enjoyed a collegiate education, we will say, generally, that 
such questions cut no figure whatever with us in selecting 
a man for any position in our employ. We employ men 
solely with reference to their capacity for the work which 
we desire them to do, and it is entirely immaterial to us 
how, when or where, or by what kind of process, they 
acquired the education and training that may fit them for 
their duties. 

MR. EDWIN REYNOLDS, 
With Allis-Chalmers Company, Milwaukee. 

While he apparently favors college education, Mr, 
Reynolds has replied to only a few of the questions, 



78 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

and these answers are so hedged with conditions that 
it is impossible to find any clear-cut expressions to 
quote. 

He states that the proportion of college men in 
their employ would probably be not over five per cent, 
and his letter does not indicate that he makes any pre- 
tense of hiring such men, or that he has given the sub- 
ject special consideration. 

MR. L. A. CARTON, 

Treasurer, Swift & Company, Chicago. 

The views expressed by Mr. Carton on this subject 
are not exactly clear, and it seems evident from his 
letters that he has given it but little thought, and has 
not had sufficient experience with college men to 
enable him to form any judgment. 

He says the proportion of college men working for 
them is less than one per cent, and makes the remark 
that he does not believe their business is attractive to 
men who have had advanced educational facilities, but 
I can not see why the work in their office should differ 
materially from office work in any other line of busi- 
ness. 



CHAPTER V. 
CRITICISMS OF THE FOREGOING LETTERS. 

To you, young men, who are thinking of going to 
college, and for whose especial benefit this investiga- 
tion has been made, I think, in commenting on the 
foregoing letters, I am justified in saying that, notwith- 
standing some of these business men seem quite warm 
in their preference for college men in their business, 
the facts are that there is no satisfactory evidence that 
a single one of them is a consistent believer in college 
men. 

Not one of them recommends that a young man 
with only $5,000 should spend it for a college educa- 
tion. The only ones who really show favor to college 
men are Mr. Antisdel and Mr. Simmons, and they 
being only recent converts, it remains to be seen 
whether they hold out. 

Aside from these two there are several who favor 
college men for the highest positions; but I advise 
you not to go to college expecting one of the higher 
positions, for you will surely get left. 

Mr. Merrill's letter is a bright and shining example 
of the difference between theory and practice, a differ- 
ence to which I have already had occasion to refer. 
For some reason best known to himself, Mr. Merrill is 
enthusiastically in favor of the college graduate in 
business until it comes to employing him in his own; 
then his interest seems to have evaporated. 



80 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

While Mr. Tuttle apparently favors college men, 
his statements would have been much more satisfactory 
had he answered all the questions, and shown what 
proportion of his men were college bred, and whether 
he had really made any practice of employing such men 
and giving them preference. 

Here is the first of many occurrences of a phrase 
(" all other things being equal ") which seems to have 
a peculiar fascination for my correspondents on this 
subject. In one form or another it appears in so many 
of the replies that one would suppose that it seems to 
them especially logical and satisfactory. Now, the 
fact is that, in the very nature of the case, it is simply 
impossible that other things should be equal ; that is 
just the fallacy which I am combating throughout this 
book. But this point is considered more at length on 
page 85. 

That Mr. Harris gets mixed on his lines of college 
education is not so much to be wondered at, consider- 
ing how illustrious an example he has in the President 
of Harvard, as already noted. He has nothing to con- 
tribute to the real point at issue except his " impres- 
sions." But his actions speak louder than his words, 
for the best he can say is that he has " some " college 
men among his employees. 

Then he falls back on that amusing stock phrase, 
already noticed — " all things being equal " — which 
seems to mean so much and really means nothing. 

Mr. Ripley affords an amusing example of hedging. 
After saying the best he can for the college graduate 
in business, he seems suddenly to have bethought him- 
self that he had gone too far, and so proceeds to upset 
his own argument by taking exactly the same view of 
the matter for which I have been contending all along. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 81 

In the latter part of his letter the only serious error 
is that he limits the loss of time to four years in col- 
lege. To that must be added at least four years spent 
in preparation for college, making a total of eight 
years lost out of the best part of a young man's life. 

A great many of my correspondents manifested 
a strong disposition to give me their " impressions " 
and " convictions " rather than facts, and to this Mr. 
Hughitt was no exception. Giving his " convictions " 
is the natural resort of the man who has no facts to 
offer. 

The argument that the answer to my questions 
" depends upon the boy " is also a prime favorite, being 
used in various forms by several of the letter writers. 
I have answered it at length on page 85. 

The views of Chauncey M. Depew, which Mr. 
Smink endorses so warmly, must be an extract from 
some after-dinner speech at some college banquet, 
where the genial Chauncey, having dined and wined 
well, naturally felt drawn to say all the nice things 
he could think of about college graduates. 

As to Mr. Smink himself, he is only another case 
of theory and practice traveling in opposite directions. 
It will be noticed that he states that the industries with 
which he is connected have few college men in their 
employ, the proportion of these men to the whole 
being, as he says, " almost infinitesimal." This would 
seem to me to be an indication that he does not carry 
out his theories in practice. The only valuable part 
of his letter is that in which he draws so good a picture 
of the conceit of the college graduate; which agrees 
perfectly with what I have said on that subject on 
page 102. 

In regard to Mr. Hyman's criticism I will say only 



82 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

this : How can the scope of my inquiry be " too nar- 
row," when it involves the welfare of thousands of 
young men who are graduated every year from the 
academic department of our colleges, knowing full well 
that they must make their own way in business life and 
imagining that the education which they have acquired 
at such a cost of effort time and money will be a help 
to them? 

What Mr. McCormick has to say about " the same 
endowment," " same environment," and " same oppor- 
tunities," is the same old idea, under a different form, 
of " all other things being equal," which I have 
exploded on page 85. 

Mr. Antisdel's argument betrays the same " struc- 
tural weakness " as that of so many others, for, by his 
own admissions, he has given the matter little thought 
and that recently. Naturally, therefore, he falls back 
on the meaningless stock phrase of " everything else 
being equal." 

The letter from Armour & Co., like so many others, 
tries to face both ways at once. It would seem as 
though there were very few business houses where 
greater opportunities existed for utilizing college men, 
if they possess the merits which the writer of this letter 
seems to think they have. As they have few such men 
in their employ, it is evident that the importance of 
hiring college men has not made a strong impression 
upon them. 

The latter part of Mr. Conway's letter contains all 
that I care to notice, for it concedes the exact position 
I have taken all along. It is useless for Mr. Conway, 
or any one else, to speculate on what might be if the 
college graduate were altogether different from what 
he is. "A willingness to begin at the bottom " and 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 83 

" never to refer to the fact that they are college bred," 
is just what does not distinguish college graduates. 

These men certainly are among the strongest and 
best men in the country for information on this subject, 
and it is surprising what a mess most of them have 
made in answering my letters. 

Certain Deductions. 

The surprising thing in most of these letters is 
that so many of the writers seem to think they are 
under some obligation to say something encouraging 
about college education. They do not seem to realize 
that this is a most important matter, and that I am try- 
ing to get some solid and substantial information for 
the benefit of young men. It is sadly out of place for 
them to disguise facts or to do anything to mislead. 
Many of them make the statement that there is need 
of more than a common-school education in a com- 
mercial life, and that there is something about the 
mental training and mental discipline which a young 
man receives at college that is of great value to him 
in business, enabling him to grasp questions and 
reason out matters more readily than one who has not 
attended college. It will be observed, however, that 
with two or three exceptions, none of these gentlemen 
appears to make a point of employing such men in his 
business. 

Railroad Men. 

In this connection I wish to call especial attention 
to the letters from Mr. Merrill and Mr. Welling. 

If college men possess the qualifications which these 
gentlemen claim for them, is it not strange that the 



84 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

great corporations with which they are connected have 
not employed them more extensively, for they have 
much greater opportunities to utilize such men than 
any other class Of employers? 

It seems to me that there is no branch of work in 
which there is greater need of men who possess good 
tact and general ability than in the position of station 
agents, and the fact that so few college graduates are 
found among them I think fully confirms my claim that 
anything further in the way of school training than 
can be obtained by the time a boy leaves the grammar 
grades would be of no advantage whatever to persons 
in the above, or, in fact, almost any other department 
of railroad work. 

Considering the fact that the hundreds of men at 
the heads of railroads throughout this country have 
been able to conduct their business successfully, 
although possessing only a moderate amount of educa- 
tion, and that the college graduate is conspicuously 
scarce in the higher positions in the railway service, 
it seems to me the height of absurdity for any one to 
claim that the subordinate positions require highly 
educated men. To do so is equivalent to saying that 
a person who might be capable of filling the position 
of president of a road is insufficiently educated to 
occupy one of the minor positions ; and what is true 
of the railway business is, of course, equally true of 
a mercantile business. 

Much has been said in various ways in connection 
with this subject in regard to higher education being 
favored by railroad men, but in the letters that I have 
received from such gentlemen not one of them has 
expressed any regret on account of having failed to 
receive such an education himself. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 85 

This phase of the subject is treated more specif- 
ically in Chapter VII of Part Two. 

" Everything Else Being Equal." 

Many business men, in theorizing on this subject, 
have said that they would give preference to college- 
bred men, " everything else being equal " ; or, " all 
other things being equal." 

They do not state just what they mean by this 
remark, but I presume it is their idea that, if they 
had to choose between two young men of equal natural 
abilities, one being a college graduate and the other 
not, they would favor the college man. It will be seen, 
however, upon reflection, that this is not a supposable 
case ; that is, there is no such thing in this instance as 
" everything else being equal." For it must be assumed 
that the young man who did not go to college has 
gained about eight years' experience in the line of 
work in which he is seeking employment, in conse- 
quence of which he has a thorough knowledge of the 
business; and it will be found that in every instance 
the employer will give him preference over the young 
man who is just leaving college. 

" Would Depend Upon the Boy." 

In response to the question whether they would 
advise a boy to go to college, some of these gentlemen 
say that this would " depend upon the boy." 

Here again they fail to explain their meaning, but 
I imagine that where a boy appears to have a capacity 
for absorbing knowledge in the grammar school, keeps 
well up toward the head of his class, and is persistent 
in his desire to go to college, they would advise his 



86 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

doing so. If this is their idea, then the question arises, 
Why would they recommend his pursuing this course 
in preference to taking up some Hne of work? The 
mere fact that he shows a capacity for learning and 
has a notion that it is a desirable thing to go to college 
is certainly no proof whatever that such an education 
would be of value to him, and I maintain that these 
gentlemen, instead of advising him to take such a 
course, ought to have corrected his mistaken theories 
on this subject in the same manner that I am now 
endeavoring to do. 

The Usual Method of Employing. 

The truth of the matter is that, when it comes to 
considering an applicant for a position, none of these 
business men will be found to pay any attention to the 
amount of knowledge a man may have of Greek, Latin, 
literature, etc., or care a straw about the mental drill 
and discipline, or the well-rounded character that he 
may have acquired through a course at college. 

The only thing that interests them is whether he 
understands their business and can promote it. This 
is all that has any weight with them in the selection 
of help — a truth which can not be impressed too 
strongly upon every candidate for commercial pursuits. 

I regard the letters from Mr. Townsend, President 
of Importers' and Traders' Bank, New York, and Mr. 
Datt, of Reid, Murdoch & Co., as being decidedly the 
most accurate and the most businesslike of all the 
replies received, and I believe it will be found that the 
method which they say is followed in their business is 
the custom of practically all business men — that is, 
they take boys about sixteen years of age who have 
attended the common grammar schools and train them 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 87 

in their own methods, advancing them as they prove 
worthy and as the business requires. Not only is this 
the most economical way, but civil service and fair play 
demand that young men who show themselves worthy 
and capable should be promoted. 

Every young man ought to realize that if he is to 
receive advancement, he must make himself worthy 
of it, and when he proves himself deserving, it is an 
injustice to deprive him of promotion by bringing in 
outside help, such as college graduates. Besides, if 
outsiders are hired for such advanced positions, the 
chances are that, three times out of four, a mistake 
will be made, and the experiment will result in a 
waste of time and money. On the other hand, an 
employer is in little danger of making an error when 
he promotes young men who have been educated in 
his establishment, for he has had plenty of oppor- 
tunity to acquaint himself with their characters and 
capabilities. 

A College Graduate's Experience. 

In this connection some remarks made by a college 
graduate in an unsolicited letter recently sent to me 
no doubt will be of interest, for I believe that prac- 
tically all college men, who possess no business experi- 
ence, meet with similar difficulties when seeking 
employment, and that this letter shows clearly the 
attitude of business men toward them. The general 
character of his letter is such as to make a favorable 
impression upon any one receiving it — I think much 
more so than ninety-nine out of a hundred from college 
men — and in view of his experience it is easy to 
imagine what that of others must be. 

After discussing some questions which are not 



88 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

relevant to this investigation, this graduate takes the 
ground that experience is far more valuable than 
theories in any discussion of this kind — with which 
view I fully agree. He then goes on to say : 

I think that my experience may be taken as a pretty 
fair test of the value of a college education in " hustling 
for a job." Summarized, it stood thus : I answered over 
450 " ads." of all kinds, taking every precaution to make 
my replies as businesslike and convincing as possible; 
sent out over seventy typewritten applications to picked 
addresses ; and made innumerable applications in person. 
In almost every case I was met by the same fatal 
question, What do you know about our business? In 
Chicago, at any rate, the employer makes it the first con- 
dition of engagement that you shall know about his busi- 
ness ; if you lack that qualification he cares not how fine 
your personal qualities may be, how excellent your mental 
capacity, how faithful your zeal. He will not give you 
even a chance to show what you can do. 

Does some one say that the reason why the college 
man can not find a business position is because he is too 
proud to begin at the bottom and work his way up? 
There again appears the ignorance of those who theorize 
about that which they never tried. In this city, at least, 
employers of business help will not take a man who is 
nearly twentj'^-five years of age as a beginner without 
business experience. They want young fellows in their 
teens, and so specify in their " ads." ; of course they can 
get plenty of them. They are cheaper, will last longer, 
and are more easily reduced to mere cogs in the business 
machine. A college man knows too many other things. 

As a last resort I even applied to Mr. A. C. Bartlett. 
In my innocence I imagined that the friend and advocate 
of the college graduate in business might consider my 
exceptional character, references and general capacity to 
be so much of an offset to my ignorance of hardware 
quotations that he might be willing to utilize my ability 
and reliability in some corner of his large business. He 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 89 

assured me politely but positively that he could not use 
a man in his business who did not know it from the bot- 
tom up ! 

There is no more pitiful object, so far as I know, 
than a young man coming out of college and seeking a 
job. He finds he gets the cold shoulder from every 
one he meets ; that the people who recommended the 
college to him have humbugged him to the last degree, 
and now, when it is too late, he finds how utterly false 
have been all the claims as to the advantages of a col- 
lege education. 



CHAPTER VL 

FURTHER MISREPRESENTATIONS OF 
EDUCATORS. 

In addition to the false statements made by the 
heads of colleges in their replies to my letter of inquiry, 
as referred to in Chapter II of this part, I call atten- 
tion to the following falsehoods and misrepresentations 
that have been gathered during this investigation. 

President Jordan's Extravagant Claims. 

Dr. David Starr Jordan, President of Leland Stan- 
ford, Jr., University, has written at considerable length 
upon this subject in a recent issue of the Independent, 
but it is unnecessary to reply to his argument in detail, 
since it is sufficiently covered by the pages of this 
book. He is most emphatic in his claims for the value 
of college education to the business man, but his claims 
manifest the usual confusion of ideas and impractica- 
bility of the college educator when he undertakes to 
deal with business questions. The notion which he, in 
common with most of the college presidents, entertains 
with regard to the helpfulness of breadth of education 
to the young man who must hustle for himself in com- 
mercial life, is absolutely erroneous. On the contrary, 
it is much more likely to injure his chances. 

It remains only to give attention to some of his 
unjustifiable remarks. He says that this is the " era 
of great projects, of great achievements," and that 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 91 

"the business of to-day and of the future demands a 
higher grade of intelHgence and a more highly special- 
ized abiHty than the individual commerce of a gener- 
ation ago. It therefore demands higher training." 

My reply to this is : If college men have not been 
able to demonstrate their worth in the smaller oper- 
ations of the past, it is absurd to claim that they will 
be in greater demand in the larger operations upon 
which we are now entering. 

In another place President Jordan says : "It is 
when exceptional effort or exceptional responsibility 
is demanded that training shows itself. The excep- 
tional man places himself in line for just such possi- 
bilities." 

To this idea I have replied elsewhere in this book. 
Here I will say only that, if President Jordan's state- 
ments were correct, college men would be in great 
demand by business men instead of being shunned by 
them. 

As the keenness of competition to-day is such that 
no man can afford to neglect the utilization of all 
kinds of help that will promote his business, business 
men would be as keen to hire such men as they would 
be to buy improved methods and machinery. 

College Captains of Industry. 

But the most astounding of President Jordan's 
claims is found in this : " Of all the business men of 
the world, those sent out from the American univer- 
sity are the most alert, the most enlightened, the keen- 
est of mind and the most effective in action. These 
are our captains of industry, and the young fellows 
who have worked their way from the streets to the 
counting-room as cash boys, errand boys and appren- 



92 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

tices, must continue, a few bright individuals excepted, 
to plod along in the ranks ! " 

What a rhetorical balloon! Not one of the cap- 
tains — or, more accurately speaking, generals of 
industry — so far as I am able to ascertain, has been 
through college. President Jordan should be more 
careful in his statements. 

In another place I find this : " Mr. Irving M. Scott, 
of the Union Iron Works, the builder of the Oregon, 
has among his employees numerous graduates of Cor- 
nell and Stanford. He told me the other day that he 
regarded a university man as worth fifty per cent 
more than a man who had come up to the same level 
by practical experience." President Jordan is mis- 
taken, for I ascertained by correspondence with Mr. 
Scott that he referred to technical men only. 

He speaks in a rather contemptuous way of the 
people who grow up from the lower positions of cash 
boys, floorwalkers, clerks, etc. ; which seems to me 
exceedingly poor taste. He should remember that it 
was in just such positions as these that Mr. Carnegie 
and many others of our successful men started, and I 
think this remark shows the contempt for honest labor 
which is altogether too prevalent among the educa- 
tional classes. For my part, I have a greater respect 
for honest labor than for men who make their living by 
sharp practice and by humbugging the public. Presi- 
dent Jordan appears to forget that he owes his job at 
Leland Stanford to one of those men, who, I presume, 
never had a college education. 

But there is hope yet for President Jordan, for he 
admits that in the past the college has not been doing 
as good work as it ought to or could have done. This 
seems to be the idea now of practically all college men. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 93 

The Testimony of Mr. Andrew Carnegie. 

Some time ago I noticed that one of these college 
advocates, in an attempt to bolster up the importance 
of college education, made the claim that Mr. Carnegie 
had said he owed his prosperity to college men. The 
following extracts from his book, " The Empire of 
Business," show how false such a statement really is: 

In my own experience I can say that I have known 
few young men intended for business who were not 
injured by a collegiate education. Had they gone into 
active work during the years spent at college they would 
have been better educated men in every true sense of that 
term. The fire and energy have been stamped out of 
them, and how to so manage as to live a life of idleness 
and not a life of usefulness has become the chief ques- 
tion with them. * * * 

I have inquired and searched everywhere, in all quar- 
ters, but find small trace of him as a leader in affairs, 
although not seldom occupying positions of trust in finan- 
cial institutions. Nor is this surprising. The prize-takers 
have too many years the start of the graduate — they have 
entered for the race invariably in their teens — in the 
most valuable of all the years for learning — from four- 
teen to twenty. * * * 

The almost total absence of the graduate from high 
positions in the business world would seem to justify the 
conclusion that college education as it exists seems almost 
fatal to success in that domain. * * * 

A captain of industry is one who makes his all in his 
business and depends' upon success for compensation. It 
is in this field that the graduate has little chance, entering 
at twenty, against the boy who swept the office or who 
begins as shipping-clerk at fourteen. The facts prove 
this. 

Prof. Chaplin's Fatal Admissions. 

Especially feeble was the plea of Professor Chap- 
lin, of Washington University, St. Louis, in a recent 



94 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

article which, I think, was inspired by the first edi- 
tion of my book. After practically admitting that 
there is not much to show for college education, he 
says, in conclusion, that we must take it on faith and 
that a hundred years hence a very different state of 
things will be seen in this country as a result of college 
education. This position is similar to that taken by the 
Milwaukee Sentinel when commenting upon my book. 
Thus it will be seen, from their own admissions, 
that when college advocates undertake to produce evi- 
dence in support of their institutions, they make a most 
dismal failure. It certainly is asking altogether too 
much to request the public to wait another hundred 
years for colleges to demonstrate their worth. 

COMMERCIAL-COLLEGE EDUCATION. 

The following is my reply to a letter received from 
Professor Clark, of the Leland Stanford, Jr., Univer- 
sity, which it is unnecessary to print, since the reply 
explains the letter : 

Chicago, May g, 1902. 
With reference to your suggestion regarding the in- 
troduction of business training in a college curriculum, 
I would say that, while this would perhaps be an improve- 
ment upon the old methods, I find that I am so entirely 
out of accord with everything in the line of higher edu- 
cation, that I can not bring myself to the point of encour- 
aging you in the changes which you propose. 

Of course, anything in the way of study that is along 
the lines of practical education possesses some advan- 
tages, and it might be possible that colleges could pick 
out some such lines in which a young man could, by sys- 
tematic application, make more rapid advancement than he 
would be able to do in an office. 

I am, however, very strongly of the opinion that these 
institutions can not be made useful to business men in the 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 95 

production of help, and that it is a great mistake for a 
young man who expects to enter upon a business career to 
spend his time and money taking a course in college. 

The Best Course. 

It is my belief that it is infinitely better for him to go 
into an office at the age of, say sixteen, for by so doing 
he will be earning something, instead of being under a 
large expense; at the same time he will be acquiring 
information along the line of work which he expects to 
follow, as well as learning a hundred and one things 
that will be more or less useful to him later in life and 
which he could not possibly obtain a knowledge of at 
college. 

As to your suggestion in regard to the study of sten- 
ography, of course stenographers are in great demand, 
but young men who wish to take up that branch had bet- 
ter attend some school for that particular purpose. 

With regard to bookkeeping, it seems to me that the 
rules covering this branch of work could be very easily 
published, if this is not already done, so that those de- 
siring to study it could do so at home as well as in school. 

The ordinarj' bookkeeper is in more or less demand 
in the smaller institutions, and a young man will undoubt- 
edly find that a knowledge of this work is advantageous. 
I presume, however, that the great mass of bookkeepers 
are produced in the same way as the majority of me- 
chanics — that is, they commence in an office just as an 
apprentice does in a factory, and advance from one line 
to another as they grow up, in this way becoming profi- 
cient in some branch of work without any cost. 

Mechanical Education. 

Referring to what you have to say concerning prac- 
tical training in mechanical lines, I do not think this cuts 
any figure whatever so far as the making of mechanics 
is concerned. If such young men as you turn out had 
been put at some mechanical work while they were young, 
they might have stayed at it and become mechanics; but 



96 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

after going through such a school as you propose, they 
are spoiled for anything of that kind, and while the 
mechanical work that they learn there may be of some 
advantage to them in after life, it really cuts no figure 
in the question of education. 

Should your proposition be carried out, I contend we 
would run into the same mistake that is met with in what 
are called " trade schools," which are popular with theo- 
retical educators at the present time. As business is now 
conducted, the boys are earning their living while acquir- 
ing their trade, and if they can do this, what necessity 
is there for " trade schools " ? 

Demand and Supply. 

Persons in your proposed line should bear in mind that 
they ought to produce something for which there is a 
demand; and further, that it is not sufficient when the 
demand comes from simply a few persons ; it should be 
such a demand as to take all the young men of this kind 
that the colleges can turn out. In other words; these 
institutions should be conducted upon the same prin- 
ciples upon which a man runs his factory. If a manufac- 
turer expects to succeed in his business, he is compelled, 
by competition, to produce an article that will sell at a 
profit, and must look forward to see whether there is a 
demand for his product. It will not do for him to turn 
out goods for which there is no demand, or produce them 
at a price which will not admit of their being sold at a 
profit. A man who should go to work, for instance, and 
build a hundred air-ships without knowing that they would 
be in demand or that he could get his money out of them, 
would most certainly be considered crazy. 

Should you disagree with the views that I have herein 
expressed, I would suggest that you submit your curric- 
ulum, with full particulars, to some of the gentlemen 
who claim to have a favorable opinion regarding the 
value of college education, say Mr. W. F. Merrill (Vice- 
President, N. Y., N. H. & H. R. R. Co.), Mr. A. C. Bart- 
lett (Vice-President, Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co., 
Chicago), or Mr. E. C. Simmons (Simmons Hardware 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 97 

Company, St. Louis), and request them to give you an 
order for some of the students who will graduate from 
your college. 

The situation has not changed since the foregoing 
letter was written. In the commercial life of to-day 
the young man who had nothing more than a gram- 
mar-school education makes as creditable a showing 
as the young man who took a course in a business col- 
lege. One is as likely to be efficient as the other, each 
being judged by the amount of brains and intelligence 
applied to his work. 

I know this to be true of our own offices. Hun- 
dreds of clerks are in our employ. The amount of 
formal education they received had little, if anything, 
to do with their employment. And it is the opinion of 
the official in charge that the clerks who did not have a 
business-college education would be no more valuable 
to the business to-day if they had taken such a course, 
nor would their success have been greater. 

I am safe in saying that in general those of our 
clerks who had a commercial education have been no 
more successful or efficient than those who got all of 
their formal education in the public grammar schools. 
We have proved that, for a boy with good intelligence, 
energy and ambition, a year in the business itself is 
worth two years in a business college. 



CHAPTER VII. 
GENERAL DISCUSSION OF THE SUBJECT. 

Words of Wisdom. 

The best education in the world is that got by strug- 
gling to make a living. Wendell Phillips. 

The true order of learning should be, first, what is 
necessary; second, what is useful, and third, what is 
ornamental. To reverse this arrangement is like begin- 
ning to build at the top of the edifice. 

Mrs. Sigourney. 

There are three classes of people in the world. The 
first learn from their own experience — these are the 
wise; the second learn from the experience of others — 
these are the happy; the third learn neither from their 
own experience nor from that of others — these are fools. 

Chesterfield. 

The Importance of Starting Right in Life. 

Having laid before the reader the views of both 
college educators and business men, I now desire to 
impress upon young men seeking a college education 
the vital importance to them of a wise choice. Too 
much stress can not be laid upon this. Life is too 
short, and the path to success too long, to permit 
indulging in the luxury of making mistakes. 

The years which a young man spends in college 
are decidedly the most important and valuable in his 
life. It is during this period that he usually lays the 
foundation for his life's work, and not the slightest 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOUNG. 99 

doubt should be allowed to exist regarding the utility 
of the occupation to which he devotes this time. When 
he arrives at the age of manhood, it is expected that 
he will be at least self-supporting and prepared to 
assume the responsibilities of manhood. 

Many young men receive an erroneous impres- 
sion regarding the value of a college education, and 
think, as the president of a western college once 
remarked in his address to a graduating class, that 
upon leaving college they can go out and pick up 
gold bricks in the street. It is only after they have 
spent their valuable time in college and have started 
out to earn a living that they find their higher edu- 
cation is practically of no advantage to them; that 
they must commence at the foot of the ladder, which 
they could have done better eight years before, and 
would now be earning a reasonable salary. 

In other words, not until then do they learn the 
truth of this college president's further remark that 
the bricks referred to are fastened down tight. I 
think they will also discover that, instead of their 
college education making them especially skilful in 
loosening the bricks, it really has the opposite effect, 
and that they are less able to accomplish this task than 
the man who did not go to college. Are not the heads 
of these institutions treating boys unjustly when they 
allow them to go through college under this mis- 
apprehension, and fail to enlighten them upon this 
subject before they have spent their time and money 
and are about to go out into the world? 

Cost of a College Education. 

The answers from college presidents to the question 
regarding the cost of educating a student have been 



100 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

omitted, because several have given no information at 
all upon this point, and I think those who attempted 
to do so have been mistaken in their figures. 

For the purpose of my inquiry this question should 
be considered in a strictly businesslike way, for it 
seems to me that education should be subjected to 
practically the same tests as to value as an ordinary 
commodity. To arrive at the total expense we should 
take into consideration not only the cost of tuition, but 
the amount which the boy would have earned had he 
been employed in some business occupation from the 
time he finished grammar school until his graduation 
from college, and also the difference between his earn- 
ing capacity for several years after he does start in 
business and that of the young man who has not 
attended college, all of which I roughly estimate as 
amounting to from $10,000 to $12,000. When this 
sum is multiplied by the number of students turned 
out by these institutions every year, it will be seen 
what an enormous economic loss is involved. The 
$10,000 that is consumed in the education of a boy 
from grammar school through high school and college 
would buy a farm and put some one in a position to 
make a comfortable living. 

Success With and Without Education. 

In one of the letters from business men attention 
is called to an article by John W. Leonard, entitled, 
" College Education and Success," in which reference 
is made to some statistics in the book, " Who's Who 
in America," showing the number of successful men 
in this country who have had a college education. 

This book is also referred to in a letter received 
from President McLean of the University of Iowa. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 101 

To this statement I reply that these men are exceed- 
ingly hard to find and that they are but a small per- 
centage of the successful men of the country. But, 
even if they were successful as a rule, the question is, 
how much does this prove as against the men who 
made an equal success without education? The fact 
that college men become strong men does not prove 
anything, but the fact that men without education 
develop into strong men proves everything. 

It is certainly remarkable that so few college men 
are what would be called a decided success in business, 
since they are the ofifspring of the strongest people of 
the country; so I think it only just to say that their 
failure to show more success is evidence that they have 
degenerated instead of improved. 

I have no means of judging the correctness of those 
statistics or how successful such men have been in 
business, since there are all degrees of success ; but I 
will say this, that probably not more than two or three 
of the pioneer business men in Chicago who have made 
a marked success in business ever attended college, and 
the remainder did not, as a rule, receive even a full 
grammar-school education. Practically all of our 
strongest and most successful men in the country 
to-day came from farms and villages and obtained very 
little education. 

Evidence Should Be Easily Got. 

If a college education were of any decided help to 
a man, there would be plenty of evidence for it before 
the public, and I should not be discussing this question. 

Much has been said about the man who works his 
way through college being a person who is likely to 
obtain some benefits from it ; but why this would apply 



102 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

to such a man more than to any other person it would 
be difficult to explain. He may possibly get more out 
of college than the ordinary run of men, but there is 
no particular reason to imagine that he would get 
enough more out of it to be of any particular advan- 
tage to him more than to the general run of people. 
Such a person who is ambitious and willing to work, 
if he would apply the same energy to some business, 
in all probability would make a marked success. 

I feel sure that if the men who have been suc- 
cessful in business were asked whether they regretted 
starting in business at the time they did, in place of 
going to college, and taking the chances of afterward 
being able to gain the success they have achieved, 
all would answer in the negative. No doubt, many 
successful men wish they had received a better educa- 
tion, for some of them are not sufficiently educated 
to be able to compose a letter correctly or express 
themselves clearly and properly in business matters, 
and have not acquired a taste for literature and many 
other things that contribute to one's happiness ; but I 
contend that a grammar-school education would have 
been sufficient to place these men in the position they 
desire. 

College Conceit and Pessimism. 

In letters received from students, one of them says : 
" I believe the average college student learns to be a 
loafer and money-spender rather than a money-saver 
and energetic citizen " ; and I think he might have 
added that a course in college has a tendency to make a 
young man conceited and unpractical, and creates in 
him something of a contempt for labor and for those 
who have not a college education. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 103 

I take the ground that a young man who goes to 
college not only is not benefited by it, after spending 
eight years in time and $10,000 to $12,000 in money, 
but is most decidedly and positively injured by the 
college, since he comes out so conceited that he is at a 
great disadvantage in getting into business, and it 
takes years, and sometimes a lifetime, to get his head 
back to a normal size. So much flattery and attention 
are often bestowed upon the college student that he 
becomes greatly conceited and thinks he knows it all, 
and that there is no necessity for him to exercise any 
reasoning powers. The whole tendency of the so-called 
" higher education " is to puff the young man up with 
vanity, causing him to look with contempt upon labor, 
and even to despise his parents ; their suggestions that 
he should work for a living are resented by him, since 
he expects to live by his wits. Then, if wits fail to 
bring him success, he becomes pessimistic. 

Object of Education. 

The remark was once made by President Eliot, of 
Harvard, that the object of education is to make people 
happy, and I presume that this is its fundamental pur- 
pose. I do not imagine, however, that he meant by 
this that education or happiness applies simply to the 
man who is well educated in literature or languages or 
in the lines which are ordinarily understood to give 
polish and enable one to be an ornament to society, 
but that he referred in a broader sense to those per- 
sons who are educated in such branches as the arts, 
sciences, history, mathematics, physics, biology, chem- 
istry, etc. 

Whether he would go still further and include men 
who have had less book education and more practical 



104 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

education, such as is acquired in manufacturing or 
mercantile industries, I am not sure ; but if so, his 
remark would include a large variety of what might, 
in a way, be called educated men. I do not suppose he 
would take the ground that there is no happiness in 
this world except that which grows out of the ordinary 
college education, but would grant that happiness may 
be enjoyed by any one who has marked knowledge and 
that it makes little difference what branches his knowl- 
edge covers. 

For illustration, take such men as Westinghouse, 
Edison, Cramp, Scott, and hundreds of others that 
might be mentioned. I contend that the happiness 
which the most learned college man gets out of life 
does not compare with that obtained by these men from 
their business. The greatest pleasure a man can have 
is that which arises from the feeling that he has been a 
success in a creditable occupation. On the contrary, 
the greatest unhappiness comes from the knowledge 
that one's life has been a failure, and it seems to me 
that the more a man has of " higher " education, the 
more severely will he feel this failure. 

The Maximum of Happiness. 

The great question for every one to decide is, what 
kind of education is going to yield him the most pleas- 
ure ; and if he selects an occupation of an educational 
character that proves to be profitable as well as pleas- 
urable, he certainly has a better chance for enjoyment 
than would be the case if he took up a line of education 
which returned him little or no profit. 

But many writers claim that the pleasure which a 
man obtains through his college education more than 
compensates for the sacrifices which he has to make 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 105 

to gain such education, and heretofore I have been 
inclined to grant part of this. But recently I have been 
informed by a person who has had much experience 
and opportunity for observing the lives of highly 
educated people, that there is little or nothing in this 
theory. He states that, as a rule, those people think just 
as much of money, dress and display, and apparently 
are little more resourceful in the way of making them- 
selves and family happy than those not so educated; 
that they take just as much interest in worldly matters, 
and are fully as likely to live beyond their means in 
order to gratify their love of display as though there 
were no compensating results from their higher educa- 
tion. If this be true of the highest college-educated 
people, where do those of only ordinary college educa- 
tion get so much pleasure? 

Furthermore, many educated men have acquired, 
just because of their associations, tastes which are 
beyond their means ; and this, of course, tends to make 
them unhappy more than anything else. 

Happiness from Success. 

No doubt men of strong character who possess suf- 
ficient means to enable them to live without working 
will enjoy life more if they take a college course. It 
gives them a standing and position in society which 
affords them considerable pleasure, but, of course, this 
does not concern the public. At the same time, I think 
it is doubtful whether this class of men get more 
enjoyment out of life than those who have built up a 
successful business, yet who received only a moderate 
education. It is my opinion that a man with a college 
education, and a reasonably good income, will probably 
get as much enjoyment out of life as one who has a 



106 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

considerably greater income but is without such edu- 
cation ; also that an uneducated man with a good reli- 
able income will be happier than one who has received 
an education but possesses a meager income. 

Many of the college graduates refer in their letters 
to the happiness they have gained from their college 
training and experience, but I can not understand what 
particular reason they have for being happy. To claim 
that a man can be happy simply because he has a taste 
for literature is taking a very narrow view of the sub- 
ject. He certainly has been of no benefit to mankind, 
and there is no reason why he ought to be happy — in 
fact, just the contrary should be the case. The only 
men entitled to happiness in this world are those who 
are useful. 

False Pride. 

If, as will be noticed later, college graduates usually 
forget a great part of what is taught them at college, 
their happiness can not be due to the knowledge gained 
there ; hence, it would seem as though it must come 
simply from the false pride which they feel in having 
attended some prominent institution of this kind. 
Surely the large number of students who did not reply 
to my inquiry for the reason, as I have claimed in 
another part of this book, that they have been unsuc- 
cessful since leaving college, can not have gained much 
happiness from their college experience. Instead of 
adding to their pleasure and enjoyment in life, I think 
there is no doubt that it has had just the opposite effect. 

In letters called forth by this investigation much 
has been said in regard to money not being the whole 
thing, and no doubt there is considerable truth in this 
statement; many people become avaricious and un- 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 107 

scrupulous in their desire to obtain wealth, and succeed 
in acquiring altogether too much of it. At the same 
time nothing is gained in a matter of this kind by 
putting it in a false position. If money is not the whole 
thing, I think it is safe to say that it is probably sev- 
enty-five per cent of the whole thing. As a rule, the 
fact is that money is looked upon with contempt only 
by those who have not got it and do not know how to 
obtain it. 

When Is a Man Educated? 

One of the college graduates remarks that he has 
forgotten nearly everything he learned at college, and 
that all the benefit he received there was the " mental 
drill." I have frequently heard other college graduates 
express themselves in the same manner, that they 
remembered very little of what they learned in college. 
If this be true, the question naturally arises, how can 
such persons be considered educated? I should think 
that they might more appropriately be classed with the 
uneducated. 

Even if a man has attended one of the best institu- 
tions of learning in the country and has retained all 
the knowledge that was taught him there, I contend 
that he is not to be compared with one who, though not 
having received a college education, is an extensive 
traveler, reader and observer, and has from his asso- 
ciation with different people acquired a large amount 
of general information that is useful to himself or to 
the public. 

It is often claimed that the college is a great place 
for learning self-reliance and for acquiring knowledge 
of human nature. It is true that the student meets 
many others in his three or four years in college, but it 



108 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

is equally true that students present a large degree of 
similarity. Generally speaking, the student's associ- 
ates are all like himself, of about the same age, from 
the well-to-do and educated classes, all having similar 
prejudices, ideas and ideals. 

Furthermore, the college is a kind of sheltered nest 
where the young man grows his wings protected from 
storms and the rude jostling of the crowd, and where 
he breathes an atmosphere of tradition and sentiment 
altogether foreign to that of the world of affairs. His 
collegiate triumphs are won with comparative ease and 
bring him an inordinate amount of petting from class- 
mates and admiring friends, so that when it comes time 
for him to fall out of the college nest into the hard, 
practical world he has acquired a most tremendous 
opinion of his own importance. 

The Best College Is the World. 

That this is true is proved by the sickening shock 
experienced by so many college graduates when they 
strike out into the world and find themselves obliged to 
stand on their own feet in the midst of a pushing crowd 
which has no awe of a diploma and despises culture. 
When the young man wakes from his dream and real- 
izes the cold truth that he is nobody, in spite of his 
sheepskin, one of two things happens. If he has the 
right stuff in him, he puts the dream behind him and 
strikes out manfully for himself as if it had never been ; 
but too often he persists in blind self-esteem and goes 
through life a pitiful failure, blaming the world to the 
last for refusing to recognize his superiority. No, the 
world is the best college for acquiring knowledge of 
all kinds of human nature — good, bad and indifferent. 

As for the " mental drill " and discipline that young 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 109 

men are said to receive at college, while I have no 
doubt that there might be something in this if it were 
done systematically and with discretion, I claim that it 
does not begin to compare with that which a man 
obtains in building up a business where he has to meet 
competition and in hundreds of ways has to " rub up 
against the other fellow." Take also the man on the 
road selling goods ; he knows that if he returns with- 
out having made sales he is likely to be called upon 
pretty sharply. There is nothing so good for a man 
or that will give him so much keenness as being com- 
pelled to struggle in business. 

The young business man is in a position to realize 
much more fully than the man in college possibly can, 
the importance of informing himself along the partic- 
ular lines which will be beneficial to him in his occu- 
pation. If he wishes at any time to acquire knowledge, 
either for this purpose or to enable him to enjoy life 
better, he will find plenty of opportunities for doing so 
outside of college, for teachers can not supply any 
information that is not already contained in books. 

I am inclined to the belief that the real difficulty is 
found not so much in the education taught at college 
as in the educators themselves, and in the ridiculous 
prominence which the public gives to the various 
athletic and other exhibitions of college societies. 

College Men Have No Special Ability. 

While my chief aim in this investigation has been 
to show whether or not the colleges offer any advan- 
tage to young men in preparing for a business life, the 
discussion of the question naturally leads up to vari- 
ous general claims that are made for higher education, 
and it may be well to consider briefly whether the col- 



110 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

leges have sufficient merit in these other directions to 
warrant their existence. 

The great claim of college advocates is that these 
institutions are turning out men who, by reason of 
their broader views, greater mental ability and stronger 
character, are capable of wielding a larger influence 
and accomplishing more good for their country than 
those who have not received such an education. It 
will be found that this theory is no more supported by 
the facts than is their claim regarding the advantages 
of a college education for business men, which has 
been completely exploded by my investigation. 

I claim that there is no evidence that college men 
possess higher character than other people. In fact, 
my experience with them in this investigation would 
rather prove the contrary and that they are not men of 
veracity, and without this quality I do not understand 
that men can have character. 

Instead of the college having the effect of training 
and disciplining the young man's mind and making him 
better able to reason out matters, as so many people 
claim, the fact is that exactly the opposite is the case. 
The student's head seems to be so stuffed with unim- 
portant things that there is no room for absorbing use- 
ful knowledge. In other words, he has become so 
theoretical that he is not capable of being practical. 
I must admit that I find it difficult to understand why 
this is so. Education certainly ought not to make a 
man stupid, and upon leaving college he should have at 
least as much brains as when he entered, besides which 
he should have acquired some useful knowledge there. 

In addition to the great claims that the advocates of 
colleges make in regard to the mental drill and disci- 
pline, etc., which a man gains by a course in college, 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOQLING. Ill 

they have much to say about the advantage it is to a 
man in the way of research. I am at a loss to under- 
stand how there can be anything special in this feature. 
As all libraries have the various subjects tabulated, I 
can see no reason why persons desirin-g any special 
knowledge can not be placed in the way of finding it 
by the librarians. 

Educators Do Not Agree. 

I contend that not orrly are college-bred men seldom 
found to be conspicuous in the great moral questions 
affecting the welfare and happiness of mankind, but 
the superior advantages which their friends would 
have us believe they enjoy have not conferred upon 
them any special ability for arriving at the truth in 
important questions. This is proved by the fact that 
they are quite as likely to be at variance in their opin- 
ions as the uneducated. A good illustration 'of this 
was furnished by a meeting orf college professors at 
Detroit some years ago. Not a single question came up 
on which these men could agree unanimously ; in fact, 
one of them took the position that the teaching of the 
three R's in the common schools was a great mistake. 
The same condition will be found to exist in all their 
meetings. 

Recently other professors have expressed them- 
selves as not at all in favor of the present college 
course, and great confusion exists among these edu- 
cators to-day as to what they should teach. The only 
thing that they practically do agree upon is that the 
college is not doing the right kind of work. 

Some college presidents-, apologizing for not show- 
ing better results from coHege men, make the statement 
that they can not make a whistle out of a pig's tail. 



112 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

While I agree with them in this, I think such an excuse 
comes with very poor grace from men who are all the 
time taking these pigs' tails and undertaking to make 
whistles out of them, consuming their time and money 
and withholding this information until it is too late. 

A Practical Surrender. 

One of the best proofs of the correctness of my 
position on this subject is furnished by the action of 
the college authorities themselves. On all sides they 
are hastening to make good the very defect which I 
have been criticizing, by establishing business courses 
as part of the regular college curriculum. The Univer- 
sity of Wisconsin, Northwestern University, the Uni- 
versity of Chicago and others have either begun such 
courses or are about to do so. Even President Jordan 
has seen a great light, for he admits that business 
courses might be included in college education, and 
declares that they shall be adopted in his institution as 
soon as there is a public demand for them ! Which is 
only another way of saying that he does not propose 
to let any students get away if he can hold them. 

While I am glad to see such a stirring among the 
dry bones, and shall do what I can to stir them some 
more, at the same time I can not regard this new 
departure as any gain to the public. All it signifies 
is that the universities, for the sake of adding to 
their attendance of students, are adding to their already 
sufficiently complicated machinery a department which 
has long been occupied by the exclusively business col- 
lege, and more satisfactorily than the university can 
possibly hope to do. 

The only plea which the university can put forward 
to justify an invasion of the business college's province 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 113 

is that of giving the young business man a broader edu- 
cation. But breadth and theories are just what the 
young man does not need for business success, as I 
have already fully explained. So even here the uni- 
versities are on the wrong track. 

" College Aristocracy/^ 

Owing to the fact that so many well-to-do people 
send their boys to college, many persons of moderate 
means get the impression that it is an exceedingly 
advantageous thing to do. Hence the enormous sacri- 
fice made by many parents that their sons may have a 
college education. 

Most of the well-to-do persons who do send their 
sons to college know that there is little or nothing of 
value in the education received. It simply is the 
fashionable thing to go to college, and so they send 
their boys, in order that they may get into the " col- 
lege aristocracy." 

These parents seem to have a fear that their boys 
will have no social standing unless they are graduates 
of some important college. And if their boys can say 
in addition to being graduates that they are members 
of some fraternity or belong to such-and-such a uni- 
versity club, their social position is assured. 

As the colleges have no merit as institutions of 
learning, their chief object seems to be to sell certifi- 
cates that will enable the holders to enter society. But 
even with this college passport the holder is not always 
successful. 

The man of real merit and real character, of brains 
and ability, needs no college diploma to enable him to 
enter society, nor does he seek a place in society. As 
he really amounts to something in himself, society begs 



114 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

for his favors and considers itself honored if he should 
have the inclination and can find the time to enter and 
become a part of it. It is the presence of such men 
within the inner circles of the highest society that 
makes the man with little but his college passport look 
like the pigmy he is. 

College-bred society men, as a rule, do not amount 
to anything, and as they are graduates from the " col- 
lege aristocracy " it is evident that the colleges are 
busily engaged in building up in this country — where 
nothing but an aristocracy of brains should be recog- 
nized — an aristocracy of " numskulls," or, as Horace 
Greeley might have put it, an aristocracy of " horned 
cattle." 

This pastime may be all right for the sons of rich 
men who can afford to make fools of themselves ; but 
it is nothing short of a calamity for the poor boys who 
go to college with the idea that there is something in 
it, and who can not afford to make mistakes. 

This shoddy side of the colleges is fostered by the 
fool parents who crowd to football games and college 
glee-club concerts, making social functions of them, 
and doing their little best to make it appear that the 
college youth is a superior sort of person. 

The same is true to a large extent of the men who 
support the colleges ; and the college president deigns 
to step down from his pedestal long enough to treat 
them as equals and to assure them that in return for 
their money he will " O. K." them as being of good 
moral character and fit to " enter society." 

So the college, in a land where only brains and 
good character coupled with fair play and industry 
should count, exercises, through its flimsy aristocracy, 
a sort of petty tyranny, striving to dominate the social 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 115 

activities of the people, and selling its favors as the 
aristocracy of Europe does. 

Is it not time for us to arise and in the strength of 
our might thrown off this miserable, fraudulent yoke 
of the colleges? Is it not time for all of us to realize 
that it is infinitely better for us to have boys who 
amount to something than boys who can do nothing 
but shine with a borrowed light? 

Colleges Patronized by the Rich. 

Probably one of the strongest arguments in favor 
of colleges is the fact that, as a rule, the most success- 
ful business men in the country send their sons there. 
But whether these gentlemen do so with the expectation 
that the boys will thereby become better business men, 
or because of the feeling that it will enable them to 
become more valuable members of society and get 
more enjoyment out of life, is a question. As such 
young men do not have to make the struggle which 
their fathers did to establish a business, possibly they 
can afford to indulge in this luxury, but so far as its 
benefiting them in a commercial way is concerned, I 
claim that the general results of education will apply 
to this class of young men as well as to others who go 
to college. We find large numbers of college gradu- 
ates to-day who have come into a thoroughly estab- 
lished and successful business that their fathers had 
built up, and it remains to be seen how they will turn 
out. 

The fact that many of our prominent business men 
support colleges probably is looked upon as another 
argument in favor of such institutions. But we have 
no explanation from these men as to whether they 
contribute to colleges because a thorough investigation 



116 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOUNG. 

has convinced them of the importance of these institu- 
tions, or because in this way they fancy they may get 
a reputation, the " O. K." of the college apparently 
covering a multitude of sins of commission and of 
omission. 

Surely these subscribers to college funds must know 
that many young men who attend these institutions are 
practically ruined ; yet the contributors do not seem to 
care a particle how much damage they do in this way 
with their money, so long as they can secure the 
approval, the " certificate of character," of the colleges. 

Top-heavy Education. 

It is strange to me that the people who are doing 
their utmost to maintain and multiply colleges can 
not see that they are making our educational system 
dangerously top-heavy. No wise man attempts to build 
the upper stories of his house until he has laid a good, 
substantial foundation. Now, the best foundation for 
any nation is a good common-school education for the 
great mass of the people, and yet my misguided friends 
are doing all they can to turn their wealth and influ- 
ence in favor of an education at the top at the expense 
of the bottom. Even admitting all that is claimed for 
the advantages of higher education, still I contend that 
the same money spent in educating the masses up to 
a higher standard would be of infinitely more benefit to 
the general public. We are never going to reform 
society from above downward ; it must be done from 
below upward. 

I know of nothing that people go into so blindly 
as educational enterprises. Many who show excellent 
judgment in other matters exhibit an incredible lack 
of it when anything of this nature is presented to them. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 117 

They take the greatest pains to inquire into the work of 
other public institutions which they are asked to sup- 
port, but no matter what sort of an educational scheme 
is brought to them, they seem to take it for granted that 
it possesses merit, and are ready to aid it without ques- 
tion. When a person of high standing contributes to 
the support of such enterprises, it is evidence that he 
endorses them. In so doing, he assumes great respon- 
sibility, and therefore it is of the utmost importance 
that he satisfy himself beyond doubt that he is making 
no mistake. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
PROFESSIONAL MEN. 

Having proved my principal proposition in the pre- 
ceding pages, I will now ask the reader's attention to 
a consideration of the question whether a college edu- 
cation is of any value to the large numbers of young 
men who afterward take up some professional line of 
work. 

Of the total number of college graduates (about 
eight hundred) regarding whom I have obtained any 
information as to their occupation, over seventy per 
cent are in professional or technical work, as follows : 

Lawyers 248 

Teachers 117 

Doctors 53 

Ministers 35 

Technical 118 

571 
Would it not have been much better for these young 
men if, instead of attending the regular college, they 
had gone to some of the special schools that are estab- 
lished for the particular purpose of educating people 
in these lines ? 

Lawyers. 

It has been brought out incidentally in this investi- 
gation that more than twenty-five per cent of college 
graduates go into law. These added to the already 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 119 

overcrowded field make it more and more difficult for 
an honest lawyer to earn a decent living. Thus the 
temptation to be unscrupulous becomes almost irre- 
sistible, and the result is a hundredfold more injurious 
to the community than the higher education can be 
beneficial. 

A reputable lawyer has stated to me that, in his 
opinion, the average yearly income of country lawyers 
is not over $600, and of city lawyers $1,200. This 
would be an objectionable state of things, even if 
honor and education always went together ; but, unfor- 
tunately, educated men are quite as likely to use their 
education for evil purposes as those who are unedu- 
cated, and this is particularly true of lawyers and pub- 
lic speakers. 

It is only necessary to go into our courts of 
so-called justice almost any day in the week in order to 
see how lawyers use the education they have received 
to assist them in defeating the ends of justice and in 
robbing people of their rights and money. In like 
manner a well-educated speaker is often able to over- 
throw the arguments and thwart all the efforts of a less 
brilliant man who is advocating a noble cause. If a 
little learning is a dangerous thing, how much worse 
is a great deal of learning in unscrupulous hands. 

I fail to see, therefore, why the people who support 
colleges should feel that they are doing any good by 
furnishing the facilities for producing so many law- 
yers. For myself, I should as soon think of putting 
money into a scheme for spreading smallpox as into 
any institution for turning out lawyers, for they are 
the great curse of our country to-day. Even the edu- 
cators, some of them, have begun to wake up to the 
suspicion that they have been making a big mistake 



120 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

somewhere, and I have seen it admitted in some of their 
public addresses that it has been a great waste for col- 
lege work to produce such a quantity of lawyers and 
doctors for whom there is no demand or necessity. 

The amount of education that people should be 
taxed to support is simply what is required to make 
them good citizens and also to make them self-support- 
ing, and the kind that will tend indirectly to benefiting 
the public. It ought not to be pursued beyond what it 
is perfectly clear the pubHc will derive results from. 

I do not think this country is suffering from the 
want of scientific men, so there is no occasion to 
encourage education at public expense on that ground. 
Then, we certainly should not be taxed for turning out 
common doctors, as we already have too many of these. 

Nor are we suffering for the want of any other 
professional men, so far as I know. 

It is particularly an outrage on the public to be 
compelled to support the incompetent persons that are 
turned out by these higher educational institutions, 
such as the unnecessary doctors and the rascally law- 
yers that come from these schools. 

In other words, it is an outrage for people to be 
compelled to support these institutions and afterward 
to support the imbeciles, sharks and dead-beats that 
they turn out. 



CHAPTER IX. 

COLLEGE EDUCATION AND CHARACTER 
BUILDING. 

Since the second printing of this first part of my 
investigations on education, I have observed in my 
talks with college advocates that they apparently have 
abandoned the idea that college-educated men have any 
especial merit in business. Perhaps it is for this reason 
they are falling back on what might be called their 
" side shows." 

Furthermore, as we now hear little talk about the 
" mental drill " given by a college course, we may con- 
clude that this also is an exploded idea which soon may 
have the company of that other claim that the college 
is a great place for the development and improvement 
of character. 

Doubtless, the less the college men say on this latter 
point the better for them; for I know of none of the 
absurd claims made by the colleges that is more diffi- 
cult to prove than this. In fact, the opposite proposi- 
tion — that college life actually does irreparable injury 
to character — may be established much more readily. 

In this claim to character building the college cham- 
pions seem to think they are behind a stone wall which 
can not be battered down, as it appears to be difficult 
to furnish proof to refute their statements. But it 
appears to me that it is incumbent upon them to offer 
some substantial evidence to justify this expenditure 



122 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

for higher education ; that is, they ought to be able 
and eager to show that they have produced many men 
of substantial character, who are doing good in the 
world. 

But even suppose we admit that colleges build up 
character, what does it amount to commercially? Is 
there any truth in the claim that the young man's busi- 
ness chances are thereby improved? I know of no 
evidence that college graduates are in demand because 
of their superior character, and no one has ventured 
to make such a claim. 

Have Collegians Superior Character? 

If it be a fact that collegians possess superior char- 
acter, it seems to me that one of two things must be 
true — either business men can not see that they have 
it, or men of character are not in demand for business. 

What does it profit a young man to find that his 
expensive education has only furnished something 
which is of no help to him when he comes to seek a 
business position ? 

Surely it is a great waste to invest in so much char- 
acter if there is no market for it. 

How discouraging it must be for the college grad- 
uate to be obliged to pose as a monument of education, 
with such superior character and such superior knowl- 
edge, when those upon whom he must depend for 
employment tell him that, although he may have edu- 
cation and character, and be a brilliant ornament and 
benefit to society, they have no use for him in business. 

It is asking too much of a poor young man to sacri- 
fice so much time and get no return for his investment. 

Perhaps college advocates may say that business 
men now do not want men of character, and infer that 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 123 

they prefer a different class of men ; but it will not 
do to assume that such is the case generally. Many 
business men have positions in which persons of good 
character are valuable, even though the possessors of 
such character may not have much business ability. 

It should be plain that if the colleges expect to work 
along this line of producing men of character, they 
should point out to the students the grandeur of this 
class of men, and impress upon them in every possible 
way that they ought to have high aims in life and that, 
while men of character may not be very great money- 
makers, they are the class of people who are highly 
respectable and probably get more comfort and enjoy- 
ment out of life than unscrupulous money-makers who 
have acquired large fortunes. 

What Stijdents Should Be Warned Against. 

They also should warn the students against men 
who have attained great success, financially or socially, 
through dishonest or improper methods, and show that 
such people are really not respectable and have no 
standing in the community. 

Of course, there is nothing about the conducting of 
a college that is especially aimed at improving charac- 
ter, and there is nothing for this claim to stand upon 
except the idea that people who have education must 
necessarily have character. There is no pretension of 
any course of study or instruction to convince the stu- 
dent that " honesty is the best policy " and that it pays 
to have character. 

Now, my theory is that character depends upon two 
things. First, it is a question of " blood," that is to 
say, of heredity. Secondly, it is the result of good 
training, especially in the home. Young men have to 



124 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

be made to see that character is a real substantial asset 
in a man's life. It undoubtedly can be developed, but 
this requires persistent, systematic and judicious train- 
ing. 

Let us see what the probability is of character being 
improved or injured by this change in a young man's 
life from near-home influences to those of the college. 
Before going to college it is presumed that he lived at 
home, where he was under the anxious and constant 
care of his parents, and perhaps also of sisters and 
brothers, who have the greatest interest in him and 
who did everything they could to keep him in the right 
path. 

The Indifference of the College. 

He leaves all this and goes to college, where he is 
thrown absolutely upon his own resources. The col- 
lege practically says to him : 

" Here you are, a man, and old enough to realize 
that you have to stand upon your own feet. If you are 
disposed to go to the bad, it is entirely your own affair." 

What must be the natural and necessary conse- 
quence when several thousands of young men are 
brought together at the most restless and indiscreet 
period of life, many of them with too much money and 
spare time at their command, and suddenly freed from 
all the restraining and guiding influences of home ? 

The public is too familiar with the result — hazing, 
painful and humiliating initiations, scrapes, and dev- 
iltry of various kinds, all done under the pretext of 
" fun." That is what the people of college towns well 
know may be expected frequently from these young 
" gentlemen " who are acquiring such a high moral 
character at a large expense. 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 125 

A youth at college has so much leisure time on his 
hands, and associates with so many wild boys, that he 
is very likely to get into bad habits. On the other hand, 
the boy who goes to work, finds that there is no time 
for deviltry in an office or store. There is nothing so 
demoralizing as idleness, and nothing so tends to keep 
a young man out of deviltry as work. 

Under such conditions, and in view of the fact that 
there is no specific attempt made by the colleges to teach 
morals, it does not require a great stretch of the 
imagination to see that the young man is likely to leave 
college with much less character than when he entered. 

Many college students, even though they have char- 
acter, do not seem to be disposed to make good use 
of it. They hold themselves superior to other people, 
and do not want to contaminate themselves by associat- 
ing with others whom they consider to be " out of their 
class." 

Danger of Exclusiveness. 

President Hadley, of Yale, in one of his annual 
reports, commented on the dangers of this social 
exclusiveness among the rich students, who shun the 
university dormitories and live together in outside 
buildings. 

A few years ago, the University Club of New York 
erected a new clubhouse, which, it seems to me, was 
the most extravagant and unjustifiable expenditure of 
money that I ever saw. While I do not know what the 
young men do in this club, I have not the slightest idea 
that they study economics or what can be done for the 
benefit of mankind. But I am inclined to think they 
do there the same as people do in all other clubs ; that 
is, their only idea is to have a good time. 



126 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

But I do know that no body of men, however great 
their character may be, can ever make that character a 
pubHc benefit if they separate themselves by luxury and 
exclusiveness from their fellow men. 

Many young men who have gone to college seem 
to be inclined to be snobbish, and to look upon the 
industrious masses with contempt. They prefer to live 
ofif the hard earnings of their parents instead of going 
to work. In all this it seems to me they show an utter 
lack of character. 

Even in its general sense it is an open question 
whether education can be credited seriously with char- 
acter building. It is a historical fact that the uncivi- 
lized races appear to have better characters than the 
civilized. Instances of this are numerous, both in the 
past and the present. 

Cortez, when he invaded Mexico, and Pizarro, when 
he took possession of Peru, found a race of people 
whose character was far superior to the Spanish, not- 
withstanding that the latter was the most highly edu- 
cated nation at that time. The strangers were received 
with honor, hospitality and childlike confidence, which 
the invaders repaid with perfidy and outrage. 

The people whom Captain Cook discovered in the 
Sandwich Islands appear to have been far better mor- 
ally than himself and the men who accompanied him. 

A Comparison with Savages. 

In this country, the Indians were more honest and 
truthful, and had higher qualities of character, than 
many of our forefathers. It is easy to believe that a 
great mau}^ of the earlier white traders had no charac- 
ter to speak of in comparison with the aborigines. The 
best evidence that the Indians of those days were hon- 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 127 

orable and upright is the fact that William Penn, who 
paid them for their lands and treated them fairly, had 
no trouble with them ; it was only people who ill- 
treated them that got into difficulty. 

Mr. Martin Ryerson, of Chicago, who had a large 
amount of experience with Indians in the early days, 
felt that they were men of superior character. This 
was impressed upon him so strongly, that he erected 
an expensive monument to their memory in Lincoln 
Park. 

Let us contrast these primitive peoples with a con- 
spicuous class of college students and college graduates 
that is supposed to represent modern civilization. 

It was my good fortune to know all of the promi- 
nent men of Chicago back in the fifties, and many of 
them I knew well. I recall all of them as men of 
integrity and of the highest type of character. I hap- 
pen to have seen how not a few of the sons of these 
men, who had been sent to college, turned out in later 
years. It taxes my memory to find any considerable 
number of these young men who have shown either the 
ability or the sterling character of their parents in their 
business careers. 

Why Do Students Degenerate? 

In an address given before the National Education 
Association at Denver in July of this year (1909), Dean 
Fordyce, of the University of Nebraska, asked : " Why 
is it that a young man degenerates within six months 
after he enters college?" The Lincoln, Nebraska, 
News, commenting on this significant question, says : 
" Lincoln is a college town and it ought to know the 
answer." It probably does ; so does Ann Arbor, and 



128 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

Boston, and Madison, and Montreal, and New Haven, 
and other college towns. 

The Dean's own answer was this : " They have 
been going to a secondary school under a home influ- 
ence. They come to college as their own masters and 
in a few months they fall under the alluring vices con- 
stantly flaunted before their eyes." 

Let New Haven tell us what some of these vices 
are. In the daily papers of July 8, 1909, there was a 
despatch bearing the New Haven date line in which a 
local minister made the assertion that " over two thou- 
sand disreputable women are living in New Haven." 

Some years ago I employed a detective to investi- 
gate the conduct of the students at Harvard. The 
details of this investigation are too disgusting to be 
published in this book, but they showed conditions 
equally as bad as those attributed above to New Haven. 

In view of the foregoing, I think that any one who 
would dare to pretend that the colleges have a ten- 
dency to build up character would be putting a low 
estimate upon the intelligence of the public. 

That my views on this subject of character and 
education are borne out by the observations of other 
men who have gone deeply into it, may be seen in this 
quotation from Herbert Spencer: 

Herbert Spencer's Opinion. 

" Education, regarded as a panacea for political 
and social life, is a universal delusion, and the fact 
should be made sufficiently clear by a survey of your 
daily newspapers. The current theory is that if the 
young are taught what is right, and the reasons why 
it is right, they will do what is right when they grow 
up. But considering what religious teachers have been 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 129 

doing these two thousand years, it seems to me that 
all history is against the conclusion." 

The colleges do not mold or develop or encourage 
the molding or development of character; but that 
they should do so is the opinion of many leading edu- 
cators. It was at a convention of the National Edu- 
cation Association, held in Boston some years ago, 
that Presidents Harris of Amherst, Tucker of Dart- 
mouth, Slocum of Colorado, and Bishop Galler of 
Tennessee, expressed the same opinion to the effect 
that the colleges must concern themselves with the 
moral education of their students. 

That his moral education is in no way connected 
with an academic education is abundantly evident from 
the opinion of Spencer, the conditions of college Hfe 
given here and the arguments I have advanced against 
the absurd claim that the colleges do encourage the 
formation of good character. 

It must be evident that everything depends upon 
the nature of the man who receives the education. If 
he is bad, education simply places in his hands a 
greater power for the working of evil. 

Character that Football Builds. 

Character is developed through struggle and 
encouraged by example. There is not much of 
struggle in modern college life, except that of the foot- 
ball field, and any one who considers this a fit place 
for the development of good character must have a 
m.ental vision sadly out of focus. 

Compared with modern college football the Spanish 
bull-fight is a fair and wholesome sport. Theoret- 
ically, football is played with eleven men against 



130 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

eleven ; practically, it is often eleven against one — and 
that one down. There is nothing generous in the 
game. Brute force rules every play, and the cowardli- 
ness of uneven numbers and unmatched weights is 
characteristic of every gridiron contest. How can any 
human person, any lover of fair play, take enjoyment 
out of watching a game in which a dozen or more 
husky brutes pile themselves in a heap, kicking and 
tearing at one another like cats and dogs, and crushing 
the life out of some poor fellow who chances to be 
underneath? Manly sport, isn't it, that sends boys 
from the field maimed by the weight of unfair num- 
bers, broken by the kicks of heavy boots, far too often 
fatally crushed ; and all for the glory of alma mater ! 
Heaven save the mark ! 

It is estimated that about twenty-five or thirty 
persons have been fatally injured this year in the 
game of football, but as this happened in the name of 
" education," no one is punished for it. The public 
appears to look upon it as being all right and an evi- 
dence of culture, character and civilization. 

If a man is killed intentionally in any other way, 
some one either is hung or goes to the penitentiary 
for the crime ; but when murder is committed in this 
brutal game, the murderer not only goes unpunished, 
but is lionized by the admirers of the sport. 

When the little son of Rev. John H. Barrows was 
in a delirium just before his death from injuries 
received in a football game, he was heard to say : " It 
was a shame for that big boy to kick me so." What 
sort of a man will the boy become who caused the 
death of this little fellow? What an example is this 
of the results that come from the encouragement of 
this game and of giving to young boys the impression 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 131 

that it is manly and proper to kill those smaller than 
themselves. 

The character developed by college football is the 
character of the brute, the character of the coward, 
the character of everything that is what a man and a 
gentleman can not be. And those who encourage this 
" sport " encourage brutality and cowardice of the 
lowest sort known to humanity. 

I take it that the prime requisites of good charac- 
ter are truthfulness and honesty. The tendencies 
opposed to these destroy character. 

Character Tested by Deeds. 

I claim that education has not had the efifect of 
giving the general run of college presidents and advo- 
cates character of this sort. It is clear to me that these 
persons are not honest or truthful, and that they are 
making a systematic business of deceiving the public 
and their students. They are continually putting the 
importance of a college education before the public in 
an unjustifiable manner. Therefore, if these persons 
have not character themselves, they can not be good 
teachers for young men who wish to have their char- 
acters improved. 

The universities have been doing much in the way 
of seeking large numbers of students without being 
particular as to their qualifications. They are not at 
all particular who they take in, so long as they can get 
the numbers. 

We sometimes hear these educators speak of the 
" tricks of trade " that those who are educated would 
not stoop to practice. 

I believe I have shown that they are not lacking 
themselves in " tricks of trade," so long as they con- 



132 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

tinue to present the college as an unusually good place 
for the molding and development of character. 

The Verdict of Dr. Virchow. 

(Extract from " The Curse of Education," by Harold 
Gorst, an English observer and writer.) 

At the Berlin conference on secondary education, held 
in 1890, Dr. Virchow observed: 

" I regret that I can not bear my testimony to our 
having made progress in forming the character of pupils 
in our schools. When I look back over the forty years 
during which I have been professor and examiner ^ — a 
period during which I have been brought in contact not 
only with physicians and scientific investigators, but also 
with many other types of men — I can not say that I have 
the impression that we have made material advances in 
training up men with strength of character. On the con- 
trary, I fear that we are on the downward path. The 
number of ' characters ' becomes smaller. And this is 
connected with the shrinkage in private and individual 
work during a lad's school life. For it is only by means 
of independent work that the pupil learns to hold his 
own against external difficulties, and to find in his own 
strength, in his own nature, in his own being, the means 
of resisting such difficulties and of prevailing over them." 

Character in the Medical Profession. 

This question of character is one on which there is 
considerable difference of opinion, and it is difficult to 
obtain absolutely clear evidence on either side. 

Recently, however, I came across a case that goes 
a long way toward proving that the educated and cul- 
tured class are fully as lacking in character as the 
most unscrupulous among the uneducated. I refer 
here to the Rush Medical College, of Chicago, and the 
Chicago Medical College. Both of these institutions 
at one time had on their faculties nearly all of the 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 133 

most prominent physicians in Chicago, and yet they 
made a practice of accepting as students young men 
who had very little general education to begin with, 
and, after a two years' course, turned them loose on 
the public as full-fledged doctors. 

Can anyone imagine a more contemptible, grasp- 
ing, money-making enterprise than that? I do not 
believe there can be found anywhere a business man 
so unscrupulous that he would resort to such despicable 
practice as that. 

I look upon a man who knocks another down and 
robs him of his money as a high-grade thief in com- 
parison with the dishonest doctors that are conducting 
these medical schools. Doubtless it is not a small thing 
to deprive a person of his money, but to turn out doc- 
tors that do not possess one-quarter the amount of 
medical education they ought to have, and to furnish 
them with certificates permitting them to tamper with 
the health of a human being is, in my opinion, infi- 
nitely worse. After such a startling exhibit as this, 
what becomes of the theory that higher schooling tends 
to produce character ? 

I greatly regret being compelled to make such 
unpleasant statements concerning the doctors con- 
nected with these medical colleges, for many of them 
were my particular friends, whom I associated with 
for years and I became greatly attached to them. In 
such an important matter as this, however, I feel that 
the public is entitled to all the facts. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE MAKING OF STATESMEN AND 
ORATORS. 

It is evident that those who laid the foundations 
for this repubHc considered it essential to the perpetu- 
ation of our institutions and form of government that 
schools should be established for the education of 
statesmen and the better equipment of orators. But 
when we look at the first century of our history, and 
pick out the really great and strong men who took 
prominent part in public affairs, we are struck by the 
fact that the majority of them received little or none 
of such higher education as the country then provided, 
and some of them did not have the advantages even 
of the very limited public education of those earlier 
days. 

It is not necessary to travel over the whole country 
to establish this point ; so I shall take only one State — 
Illinois — as an illustration of what has been done in 
the way of producing notable statesmen and orators 
without the help of higher schooling, and at a time 
when free public schools had not become a statewide 
institution. 

The Act of Congress, which enabled Illinois to pre- 
pare for statehood, provided that section sixteen of 
every township should be " for the use of schools." 
There also were provisions for the establishment of a 
State university and a seminary. In 1825, Senator 



Academic and classical schooling. 135 

Joseph Duncan's Free-school Act was passed, provid- 
ing for local and State taxation. There was consider- 
able protest against this law, especially among the 
farmers, the contention being that these schools would 
take the boys away from the farm. To meet these 
objections, the Legislature of 1827 amended the Dun- 
can Act, so that no person should be taxed for school 
purposes without consent, but that persons residing in 
the limits of a school district should have the privilege 
of subscribing for the support and establishment of 
the school, and the rents and profits of any school 
lands within the boundaries of the township were to 
be assigned and appropriated for the use of the school 
under the superintendence of trustees. 

Early Education in Illinois. 

It was not until 1854 that the office of State Super- 
intendent of Schools was established, and with it a 
complete system of free public schools. And it 
remained for the constitution of 1870 to " provide a 
thorough and efficient system of free schools, whereby 
all children of this State may receive a good common- 
school education." 

From these facts it must be evident that during the 
most important formative period of the State of Illi- 
nois the people had no definite free-school system and 
nothing worth mentioning in the way of higher school- 
ing. Yet, it was just this period that gave to the State 
and to the nation a notable array of some of the 
strongest statesmen and orators that this country has 
known. 

I am aware that not all of these were born sons of 
Illinois, but with few exceptions their school advan- 
tages were not superior to those offered by this State 



136 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

during the time they developed into leading and domi- 
nant public figures. We must consider these men, as 
a whole, far superior in all that constitutes true states- 
manship to those who came after and who had much 
larger opportunities for securing both public and higher 
school education. 

How Much Schooling is Enough. 

Another interesting point arises in connection with 
this glimpse at the earlier educational history of Illi- 
nois, and that is: how much schooling may be con- 
sidered enough for a person's good? 

There always will be a wide difference of opinion on 
this question, ranging all the way from those who 
believe no schooling at all to be best, to those who 
believe one can not have too much. 

In the former class we still have many of our 
farmers, which must be evidenced from the present 
low order of country public schools. The Illinois 
farmers of 1825, who believed that the very smallest 
amount of education tended to take boys from the 
farms and to unfit them for farming, would find com- 
pany among the farmers to-day. For it is an indis- 
putable fact that schools draw the farm lad to the 
village, thence to the town, thence to the city, each 
move in search of schooling taking him farther and 
farther from the farm. 

Really this educational problem places the farmer 
between the devil and the deep sea. It is necessary 
that every boy in the land be given enough education 
to enable him to exercise the franchise intelligently, 
that he may be a good and useful citizen. But if even 
this reasonable amount of education draws boys from 
the farm, how far may we go in censuring the farmers 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 137 

if, in sheer self-defense, they show an unfriendly front 
even to efforts to bring the district schools somewhat 
nearer to what they should be ? 

In view of this condition I can not see how the 
higher educators can hope to secure the support of the 
farmers even for agricultural education, for this would 
be asking them to encourage a course that draws their 
boys from the farm, and unfits them not only for the 
life and work of the farm, but for all other forms 
of industry. 



CHAPTER XI. 

SOME VIEWS OF OTHER INVESTIGATORS. 

" At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth 
of three witnesses, shall the thing be established." I 
present here the testimony of several witnesses, men 
who have investigated this question of higher schooling 
and have reached conclusions on a number of essen- 
tial points practically the same as my own. 

" THE DISADVANTAGES OF EDUCATION." 

(Excerpts from an article in " The Nineteenth Cen~ 
tury," giving a study of the results of special and advanced 
education in England.) 

While educational enthusiasts in and out of politics 
are strenuously advocating the " training " of leaders of 
men in every field of human activity, it is useful to con- 
sider occasionally the limitations of education, and to 
remember how few of the leaders of men have been 
" trained " to their leadership by third parties, either in 
schools or otherwise. 

It is an old experience that the most prominent men 
in nearly every province of human activity have been 
amateurs, and that is one of the reasons why amateurs 
and not professionals are selected to rule our great pub- 
lic departments. Our great administrators have nearly 
all been amateurs and autodidacts. To take a few of the 
best-known examples : Cromwell was a farmer, Warren 
Hastings and Clive were clerks, Mr. Chamberlain was 
brought up for trade, Lord Goschen for commerce, and 
Lord Cromer for the army. Other countries have had 
the same experience with self-taught amateurs. Prince 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 139 

Bismarck was brought up for law, failed twice to pass 
his examination, became a country squire, and drifted 
without any training into the Prussian diplomatic serv- 
ice and the cabinet, and founded the German Empire. 
George Washington was a surveyor, Benjamin Franklin 
a printer, Abraham Lincoln a lumberman, M. de Witte 
a railway official. 

In a less exalted sphere we meet with the same phe? 
nomenon. Sir William Herschell was a musician, Fara- ' 
day a bookbinder, Scott a lawyer's clerk, Ney a notary's 
clerk, Arkwright, the inventor of the spinning-machine 
and the first cotton manufacturer, a barber, Spinoza a 
glass-blower, Edison a newsvender ; George Stephenson 
and most of the great inventors and creators of industry 
of his time were ordinarj'' workingmen. 

When we look around we find not only that many 
leaders of men were devoid of a highly specialized train- 
ing in that particular branch of human activity in which 
they excel, that they were self-taught amateurs, but that 
many of the ablest politicians and of the most successful 
business men have not even had the advantage of a fair 
general education. Abraham Lincoln had learned at 
school only the three R's, and those very incompletely, 
President Garfield worked with a boatman when only 
ten years old, President Jackson was a saddler and never 
spelled correctly. President Benjamin Harrison started 
life as a farmer, and President Andrew Johnson, a former 
tailor, visited no school, and learned reading only from 
his wife. George Peabody started work when only eleven 
years old, the late Sir Edwin Harland was apprenticed 
at the age of fifteen years, Andrew Carnegie began his 
commercial career when twelve years old as a factory 
hand, Charles Schwab, former president of the United 
States Steel Corporation, drove a coach as a boy, and 
then became a stake-driver at an iron works. Josiah 
Wedgwood started work when only eleven years old; 
Arkwright, the father of our cotton industry, was never 
at school ; Edison was engaged in selling papers when 
twelve years of age, and Sir Hiram Maxim was with a 
carriage builder when he was fourteen. " Commodore " 
Cornelius Vanderbilt, the railway king, who left more 



140 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

than a hundred million dollars, started as a ferryman at 
a tender age; the founder of the wealth of the Astors 
was a butcher's boy, Baron Amsel Mayer von Rothschild 
a peddler, Alfred Krupp a smith, Rockefeller, the head 
of the Standard Oil Trust, a clerk. All these most suc- 
cessful men were autodidacts. People well acquainted 
with the city can name a goodly number of millionaires 
who occasionally drop an " h," the only evidence left of 
an arduous career from the bottom rung of the ladder. 

Why have so few eminently successful men been 
school-trained? Because the acceptance of ready-made 
opinions kills the original thinking power and unbiased 
resourcefulness of the mind, and paramount success can 
not be achieved by docile scholars and imitators, but only 
by pioneers. Besides, the independent spirits who are 
predestined for future greatness are usually impatient of 
the restraint of schools, and of their formal and largely 
unpractical tuition, and wish to be free to follow their 
own instincts toward success. 

In view of these numerous well-known instances of 
greatness achieved by men unaided, but also unspoiled by 
education, who taught themselves what they found neces- 
sary to learn, which instances might be multiplied ad 
inHn'itum, it is only natural to find a strong opposition to 
education among the unlearned men whose native shrewd 
common sense has not been affected by the reading of 
books. But even the learned begin to waver and to ask 
themselves whether the much-vaunted benefits of learning 
have not been largely overestimated, and whether the 
undoubted advantages of education are not more than 
counterbalanced by corresponding disadvantages. 

The doubts as to the advantages of education have 
been considerably strengthened by our experiences in the 
South African War. Many observers have been struck 
by the curious phenomenon that our most highly educated 
officers had on the whole so little success against the 
Boer officers, who were not only quite unlearned in the 
science of war, but also mostly uneducated, and some- 
times grossly ignorant in elementary knowledge, peasants 
who had perhaps not even heard the names of Frederick 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 141 

the Great, Napoleon and Moltke, whose every battle our 
erudite officers had at their fingers' ends. 

The highest military school in Great Britain is the 
Staff College. The officers who have succeeded in pass- 
ing through that institution are considered to be the most 
intellectual, and are marked out for future employment 
in the most responsible positions. They are our most 
scientific soldiers and represent the flower of learning in 
the army. Consequently it might be expected that our 
most distinguished generals should be Staff College men. 
However, if we look through the Army List, it appears 
that our most successful officers in the Boer War — Lord 
Roberts, Lord Kitchener, Sir John French, Sir George 
White, Sir Archibald Hunter, Sir Ian Hamilton, Lord 
Dundonald, Sir Hector Macdonald and General Baden- 
Powell — have not passed the Staff College. On the 
other hand, we find that the late General CoUey, who lost 
Majuba, was a prominent military scientist and Staff Col- 
lege professor, and that General Gatacre, who was de- 
feated at Stormberg, and Generals Kelly-Kenny, Hild- 
yard, Hart and Barton, who also took part in the South 
African War, though not with conspicuous success, have 
the much-coveted P. S. C. (passed Staff College) printed 
before their names. In the South African War it came 
to pass, as some crusty old colonels had prophesied, that 
the officers who were brimful of scientific military knowl- 
edge, and who could talk so learnedly on strategy and 
tactics, achieved nothing on the field of battle. Those 
who achieved something had not been " trained " to gen- 
eralship in the Staff College, and had not had their natural 
thinking power, their common sense, crowded out of exist- 
ence by the absorption of a huge store of book-learning. 

After some of our initial defeats a distinguished gen- 
eral was sent out, and it was reported that wherever he 
went a large library of military works, strategetical, tac- 
tical and historical, went with him. He and his library 
went to Africa to save the situation, but not many months 
after that distinguished scientific general returned in dis- 
grace to England, together with his library. His impos- 
ing book knowledge, with which he could talk down any 
mere fighting officer, had availed him nothing in the field. 



142 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

Our " highly-trained " professional intelligence officers 
proved also of very little value until they had unlearned 
in Africa what they had been taught at home, while quite 
unlearned Transvaal peasants made splendid intelligence 
officers. On the other hand, " Colonel " Wools-Sampson, 
by far our best intelligence officer, was a civilian. 

Our politicians have unfortunately not yet learned the 
lessons of the South African War. Instead of investigat- 
ing why the unlearned peasant officers defeated so often 
the flower of our military scientists, who were fortified 
with the most profound military education, and who had 
a most extensive knowledge of the battles, the strategy 
and tactics of all periods, from the time of Hannibal 
onward, a committee of gentlemen innocent of war was 
deputed to inquire into the education of our officers. 
Naturally enough their verdict was condemnatory of the 
present system, and various suggestions were made by it 
how to improve the education of our officers. Lord Kitch- 
ener, General French, Christian de Wet and Louis Botha, 
fighting officers who are no doubt the most competent 
judges of the qualifications required in an officer for war, 
were, unfortunately, not asked for their opinion on such 
a vital matter. It would have been interesting to learn 
how much or how little weight practical authorities of 
unrivaled weight, such as these, attach to school educa- 
tion of officers as practiced in Great Britain, and what, 
according to their opinion, the effect of that school edu- 
cation is upon their common sense. 

In view of these few examples, which are universally 
known, and many more which are less familiar, it is not 
to be wondered at that thoughtful men begin to question 
the efficacy of education altogether. * * * 

No doubt, the object of education should be to en- 
lighten the understanding, cultivate the taste, correct the 
temper, form the manners and habits of youth, and, espe- 
cially, to fit them for usefulness in their future stations 
by preparing them for the battles of life. Is this object 
attained to any degree by our present education, or does 
it chiefly endow us with a show of motley knowledge, 
mostly useless in after life, to the detriment of our 
natural thinking powers and of our common sense? 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 143 

The danger inherent to the possession of a store of 
undigested knowledge is that it shackles, stifles and often 
kills the free working of the brain. That great danger of 
education has been clear to many great men, from Sol- 
omon onward, who have given the matter a thought. Of 
the numerous epigrams which have been coined to warn 
against the danger of substituting a dead weight of un- 
digested and therefore useless knowledge for an active, 
unprejudiced and clear brain, endowed with common 
sense, I should like to mention only two ; Goethe's, " The 
greater the knowledge the greater the doubt," and Haz- 
Htt's, " The most learned are often the most narrow- 
minded men." The truth of these sayings is absolutely 
clear to every-one ; only this truth, though instinctively 
felt, has not sufficiently been taken to heart by those who 
direct the education of the nation. 

It has been truly said " knowledge is power," but 
knowledge in itself is not power, only applied knowledge 
is power. Knowledge is like money, not valuable in it- 
self, but only valuable for what it will buy. Knowledge 
is like a strong weapon, but the best weapon is useless 
to a man who does not know how to wield it. Knowl- 
edge is an elementary power, but the power of the Niag- 
ara, or of steam, or of electricity, would be useless to 
mankind unless intelligence directs that power to some 
practical purpose. The Chinese knew magnetic iron long 
before the Europeans knew it. To them it was a piece 
of iron and nothing more. Handled by European intelli- 
gence, magnetic iron became a useful power in the com- 
pass, which gave Europe the rule of the seas. The Chinese 
knew also gunpowder before the Europeans knew it, but 
to them it was only a plaything used in fireworks. 

A learned officer whose intelligence has been swal- 
lowed up by his military studies will not immediately fit 
his tactics to the case in point, as his free common sense 
would suggest, but tries often to make the case in point fit 
the theories which he has imbibed, or the historical prece- 
dents and parallels which his memory, not his judgment, 
suggests to him. An example: On the 15th of Decem- 
ber, 1899, General Buller telegraphed to Lord Lans- 
downe from Chieveley Camp : 



144 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

-<* * * ]yjy yig^ jg ^Yizt I ought to let Lady- 
smith go and keep good position for the defense of South 
Natal, and let time help us. * * * The best thing 
I can suggest is that I should keep defensive position and 
fight it out in a country better suited to our tactics." 

Instead of looking at the position of the enemy and 
his tactics with an unbiased mind, and fitting his tactics 
to the ground and circumstances. General Duller evi- 
dently wished to fit the ground and circumstances to his 
unsuitable book tactics and proposed to retire to South 
Natal in the vain hope that the enemy would oblige him 
by following after, and thus enable him to fight there 
according to the book. Other generals complained that 
the Boers " bolted " before an attack with the bayonet 
could be " brought home." They seemed to consider that 
the Boers did not play the game squarely in deviating 
from the tactics taught in the text-books. * * * 

What applies to military matters and to business of 
state applies with equal force to trade and commerce. 
None of our successful generals in the South African 
War have passed thrcwagh the Staff College, and no busi- 
ness man of the first rank in Great Britain, America or 
Germany has, as far as is known, come from commercial 
high schools. On the contrary, it seems that Mr. Car- 
negie's advice to " start young and broom in hand " is 
most excellent counsel. While great fortunes and great 
industries have almost invariably been created by unedu- 
cated men, parvenus unembarrassed with learning, who 
taught themselves what they found necessary to know, 
we find on the other hand that those men who have made 
commercial science, political economy, their study, have 
not shown any success in business and have remained 
theorists. Most political economists have had to live on 
their pen. Mr. Cobden went bankrupt in business. It is 
true that Ricardo was well off, but he was a stockbroker 
by trade, and with him political economy was only a 
hobby, not a serious pursuit. It is strange how few 
business men of the first rank have a good word to say 
of political economy. * * * 

As the possession of knowledge without understanding 
is not only useless, but as its acquisition also deprives 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 145 

the learners of much valuable time which might more 
advantageously have been employed in a different way, 
it is quite clear that the schools should first of all try to 
develop the native intelligence, the common sense, of their 
pupils, instead of ignoring its presence and weakening 
its force. Furthermore, schoolmasters should constantly 
bear in mind that knowledge can only be usefully ac- 
quired in proportion to the common sense possessed by 
the learner, that learning must be subordinate to under- 
standing, and that, though common sense can make ex- 
cellent use of knowledge, knowledge can never replace 
common sense. Tuition should, therefore, always look to 
the intellectual power of the scholar, as the engfineer 
looks to the pressure-gauge, and regulate accordingly the 
rate of progress in learning, instead of mechanically fill- 
ing the learner's brain to the full capacity of the memory, 
and thereby crowding out the common sense, * * * 

Dr. Woodrow Wilson's Opinion. 

(From an address by President Woodrow Wilson, of 
Princeton, delivered at the Washington University, of St. 
Louis.) 

"The most serious task before the university world 
to-day," said President Wilson, "is the task of restoring 
the balance in favor of the intellectual interests of our 
colleges and universities. A strong university has no need 
of being advertised by its teams, its glee-clubs or its 
dramatic societies. Moreover, the many undergraduate 
activities, each in itself innocent, are in the aggregate 
exhaustive of the supply of energy and initiative which 
each student possesses. Too often, after football and 
baseball and fraternity dances, comes study ; and the pro- 
fessor receives not the close attention and undiminished 
initiative which he has a right to expect, but that tiny 
residuum which is left over after the pleasures of college 
life have had their sway. 

"A man who takes a course of four years of social 
life at some university," declared President Wilson, " has 
thrown away four years of that natural power to work 



146 ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 

which descended to him from his great progenitor, Adam. 
He now finds himself face to face with actual work in its 
true sense, and he also finds that he is not ready to work ; 
his faculties are undeveloped, his fund of information is 
limited and very hazy; he is a college man, but he is not 
a trained man, nor an educated man. It is a singular 
fact that our universities are standing upside down, not 
on their heads — which might be not altogether a bad 
thing — but on the wrong end. Pleasure is business, and 
business is pleasure. As a matter of fact, a man's chief 
duty to himself and to society is to get his brain into 
such shape that he can use it, and certainly one function 
of a university is to show the applicant whether or not 
he has any brains. Men are too ready to assume that 
they can be educated, that they have brains." 

Progress and Character. 

(Extract from an article by Mr. Chamberlain, formerly 
premier of Great Britain and a prominent manufacturer.) 

"1 would remind you that all history shows that 
progress — national progress of every kind — depends 
upon certain individuals rather than upon the mass. 
Whether you take religion, or literature, or political gov- 
ernment, or art, or commerce, the new ideas, the great 
steps, have been made by individuals of superior quality 
and genius, who have, as it were, dragged the mass of 
the nation up one step to a higher level. So it must be 
in regard to material progress. The position of the nation 
to-day is due to the efforts of men like Watt and Ark- 
wright, or, in our own time, to the Armstrongs, the 
Whitworths, the Kelvins and the Siemenses. These are 
the men who, by their discoveries, by their remarkable 
genius, have produced the ideas upon which others have 
acted and which have permeated the whole mass of the 
nation and affected the whole of its proceedings. There- 
fore, what we have to do, and this is our special task and 
object, is to produce more of these great men." 

Mr. Chamberlain mentions only a few of the great 
men of England who, without special education — and 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 147 

not much of general education — attained fame for 
themselves and laid the foundation for England's 
wonderful material progress. He might have named 
Stephenson, Dudley, Brasse, Napier, Nasmyth, Rus- 
sell, Koenig, Bramah, Maudslay, Clement, Fox, Whit- 
worth, Fairbairn, Smeaton, Kelley, Rennie, and a score 
of others. 

And I might add that in this country we have had 
in the same class, as the real builders of America, 
such men as Slater, Fulton, Ericsson, Blanchard, Read, 
Howe, Corliss, Baldwin, Goodyear, and many others. 

Not all of our higher educational institutions com- 
bined can present an array of names and achievements 
to compare for a moment with those I have just men- 
tioned. Nor can they show conclusively that they 
have played a part of any importance in contributing 
to the success of the country. 



CHAPTER XII. 
CONCLUSION. 

I am perfectly well aware I shall receive neither the 
thanks nor the sympathy of the college clique for this 
investigation, for the so-called higher education is the 
fashionable thing and it is "bad form" to say any- 
thing against it. Many people of prominence, in their 
interviews or articles on this subject during the past 
year, have, through ignorance or enthusiasm, made 
exceedingly foolish and absolutely untruthful state- 
ments in behalf of educational institutions, and it is 
just such remarks, together with the absurd notoriety 
given to the various athletic and other contests of 
college clubs and societies, that are largely responsible 
for the false ideas prevailing among a large portion of 
the public in regard to the value of a college education. 

My great object in this investigation has been to 
furnish facts instead of theories, in order that people 
may be able to determine whether they are justified in 
making the great sacrifices that are required to send 
their boys to college. This is a work that should have 
been undertaken long ago by the college authorities 
themselves, for it is their duty to the public to see that 
no deception is allowed to exist on this subject. But, 
even after I have furnished them with the evidence that 
has been produced by this investigation, I do not sup- 
pose for one moment that they will make it public or 
retract their statements. Instead of laying the facts 



ACADEMIC AND CLASSICAL SCHOOLING. 149 

before the young men who are preparing to enter col- 
lege, they will go right on deceiving as many as they 
can and taking the money of those to whom they can 
give nothing in return but useless knowledge. Prac- 
tically they stand on the same level as the merchant 
who sells goods which he knows to be shoddy. 



PART TWO 

TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL 
SCHOOLING 



INTRODUCTORY TO PART TWO. 

One of the surprising things of the present age is 
the enormous development of technical schools in this 
country in the last forty years. 

In 1870 there were only two technical colleges — 
the Troy and the Philadelphia Polytechnic. Now 
there are forty-five strictly technical schools, and in 
addition almost all the colleges have technical depart- 
ments, making the number several hundred, with many 
thousand students. 

In view of the indisputable fact that practically all 
of the great engineers that have ever lived had no 
technical-school training, and that all the wonderful 
progress that this country has made in the perfection 
of manufacturing has been accomplished without such 
training, is it not reasonable to ask if we have not 
gone crazy on this subject? 

The object of Part Two of this book is to show 
the fallacy of these technical schools. 



CHAPTER I. 

TECHNICAL EDUCATION APPLIED TO 
MANUFACTURING. 

There seems to be a belief in some quarters that 
technical education is valuable to manufacturing. I 
have given this matter much thought, and I wish to 
say that in my long experience in the manufacturing 
business I have seen no practical results coming from 
technically trained men, and I do not know of a case 
where a practical and successful manufacturer has 
taken any interest in technical schools. 

Value of the Practical. 

I lay strong emphasis on the practical side. The 
period of a boy's life usually given to technical educa- 
tion is the most important in his whole career, and 
should not be devoted to anything questionable or 
speculative. Technical schools are built, supported and 
managed wholly by impractical people, and they are 
not qualified to play a part in the training of boys who 
have to earn their own livelihood in a mechanical line. 

I most emphatically disagree with the popular belief 
that a technical education is necessary to the pro- 
duction of good mechanics, foremen, superintendents, 
etc. 

So far as manufacturing is concerned, I am most 
decidedly of the opinion that time spent in technical 



166 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

schools is absolutely wasted. I as strongly believe 
that technical education is a positive drawback in 
nearly every mechanical line. 

For example: I glance over a recent bulletin of 
one of our technical schools and see that the students 
will make " astronomical observations and computa- 
tions to determine time, latitude and azimuth." That 
they will have advanced work in " differential and 
integral calculus, mechanical differentiation and inte- 
gration, calculus of imaginaries and hyperbolic func- 
tions," and that " elliptical functions " will be defined. 
There also will be " addition and multiplication of 
determinants " and some exercise with the " ellipsoid," 
the " hyperboloid " and the " paraboloid." 

Now these things may be all very well in their 
place, and very interesting to a few, but how in the 
name of common sense are they going to help a young 
man to be a good, all-around, practical mechanic? 

Will knowledge regarding differential and integral 
calculus enable him to run a lathe or work at a vise? 

Can a foreman do his work better if he be on inti- 
mate speaking terms with the azimuth ? 

Danger of Impractical Things. 

Because a superintendent can roll ellipsoid or para- 
boloid as a sweet morsel under his tongue, is he the 
better fitted to select and to control his men? 

Ordinary common sense gives a most emphatic NO 
to these questions. 

The youth who gets a few of these things into his 
head, in some hit-or-miss fashion, may feel that he is 
securing knowledge essential to his progress, and con- 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING, 157 

sequently he comes out of the technical school and goes 
into the shop with the idea that he is superior to the 
boy wholly shop-trained. 

His head is swelled to such an extent that he is 
unable to grasp the practical things that are essential 
to his advancement and success. 

In fact, if such a lad does succeed as a mechanic, 
it is because he has sense enough to profit by the 
knocking around he is sure to get in the shops, and to 
drop his false ideas, so that he may begin to learn 
things of real practical and material value to him. 

I maintain that what is necessary for men to have 
to be successful in manufacturing is a thorough knowl- 
edge of the art, of the kind of machines best adapted 
to certain purposes, and of how much the machines 
are capable of producing. Also, what is a reasonable 
day's work in the different lines that the men are 
employed at. That is to say, a man should know just 
what a ton of various kinds of castings can be produced 
for. If he is building an engine he should know 
almost exactly the number of days' work it takes to 
turn it out. 

These prime essentials are not found in a course in 
technology, but in long experience and close observa- 
tion in the business, and in a thoroughly up-to-date 
factory. 

Many are deceived in regard to the value of tech- 
nical education by the fact that some of the graduates 
from technical schools get into good positions. 

Undoubtedly this is true, but only to a very limited 
extent. 

I maintain that where one technical graduate 
secures a good position, a dozen boys, who have had 



158 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

none of this technical training, also get good positions, 
and fill them equally as well as, or better than, the 
technically educated young man. 

Where Technical Schools Fail. 

It would be most surprising if the technical schools 
did not turn out something above the average now and 
then, when we remember that as a rule none but the 
brighest boys are sent to such institutions. And this, 
to my mind, is one of the strongest counts against this 
class of higher education : it has its pick of the best 
and brighest, yet with such working capital it makes 
no adequate returns. 

I know of one concern that tried twenty graduates 
of technical schools, and I am informed that of this 
number seventeen proved absolute failures, two were 
indifferently successful, and only one turned out to 
be a decided success. 

These men were tried as salesmen, where they 
would be much more likely to succeed than in the man- 
agement of mechanical operations. 

As an argument, on the other hand, I know of one 
large manufacturing concern in this country that, 
despite the fact that it was surrounded by technically 
trained men, chose its superintendent from the ranks 
of its common laborers, giving him a position that 
paid $12,000 a year. 

I might also cite the case of a man I know who 
took a course in architecture in the " Boston Tech.," 
and afterward admitted that before he could make any 
progress in his profession he had to forget about all 
that had been taught him in that school. 

I don't know of a case where a technically educated 
man has built up a manufacturing business of his own 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 159 

and carried it to marked success. In fact, it is rare to 
find instances where technically trained men have 
assisted materially in the building up and management 
of great industrial enterprises. 

Why, then, do we hear such enthusiastic claims 
to-day for what technical-school education is doing? 

Why such boasting about what Germany is doing 
in a technical way, till that country has become one 
of our bugaboos? As far as mechanics is concerned, 
we have nothing to fear from Germany; but it is 
undeniable that Germany has much to learn from us. 

One or two facts will illustrate this. A year or 
two ago one of my sons, while in Germany, visited a 
large electrical plant in Nuremburg, and found that 
this factory not only was filled with American machin- 
ery, but was managed by Americans. 

While talking with a gentleman, some time ago, 
concerning the manufacture of agricultural machin- 
ery in Germany, he made the statement that on a recent 
visit to that country he had seen a factory that was 
being fitted up for the manufacture of reapers and 
that was completely equipped with American machin- 
ery. 

No Need to Fear Germany. 

I am also told by a German who visited one of the 
prominent automobile factories in Germany that there 
also American machinery was used almost entirely. In 
talking with one of our prominent machine tool build- 
ers some ten years ago, he said that he was exporting 
fifty per cent of his output, and that another man in 
the same business in his neighborhood was exporting 
sixty per cent of his output. 

I mention these facts because I hear so much talk 



160 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

about the importance of the German technical schools 
to manufacturing, and that there is danger of the 
American manufacturer being completely outstripped 
unless he encourages these schools here. My theory 
is, however, that this course would ruin American 
business, instead of help it. 

If Germany is so far ahead of us mechanically, 
why does she buy our machinery for her factories, and 
hire our mechanics? 

Who ever heard of Americans buying extensively 
of German machinery or employing German mechanics 
as foremen and superintendents? If she is so great 
in this line as some would have us believe, shouldn't 
there be a great demand for her machinery and 
mechanics ? 



CHAPTER 11. 
TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN ENGINEERING. 

Following a regular order in my investigation as 
to the practical merits of all kinds of higher or special 
education, I come now to technical schools that have 
to do with education in the various branches of engi- 
neering. 

Before getting right into my subject I wish to give 
what I understand by the terms " expert " and " tech- 
nical," as they will be used frequently in this article. 

As the dictionary definitions of these terms are 
confusing, I shall consider them as follows, believing 
that this is the view people generally take regarding 
them: 

An " expert " is one who has become skilled and 
thorough in any line of handicraft or calling. 

A " technical " man is one who has learned the 
science or theory of some calling or handicraft. 

How Technical Schools Have Grown. 

The engineering schools seem to have been simply 
an outgrowth of the whole higher educational move- 
ment. Professors and teachers who appear to hold to 
the belief that they know just what the country needs, 
or who have become jealous of other colleges that have 
established engineering departments, have gone ahead 
adding to the list of these institutions without any 
knowledge as to whether there was any real need for 
them. 

11 



162 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

There seems to be a sort of fascination for many 
people about the word " engineer," especially if a man 
is a technical-school educated engineer, and still more 
so if he has received his technical-school instruction in 
Germany. Some apparently look upon such men as 
superior persons, in fact, in some cases, almost wor- 
shiping them. 

The great mass of people who employ engineers 
have not the slightest conception of the subject, so 
it is only natural that when in need of an engineer they 
should select one who has the reputation of having 
been educated at a technical school, and especially one 
who may have been so educated in Germany. 

Only those who have had a large amount of experi- 
ence with engineers can discern their merits ; so that 
it is readily understood how the technical-school engi- 
neers are likely to acquire their reputation, and thus 
many fall into the error of believing that technical- 
school graduates must be superior to those who have 
had only practical experience. 

Holding this view, it is not surprising that there 
should be some who think that if one can not get good 
work from the engineers having technical-school edu- 
cation, where can it be procured ? 

If a man can become a success in engineering with- 
out attending a technical school that will teach him 
the theory of his profession — that is, if he can secure 
all the information he needs in the actual practice of 
his line — does it not prove that the school is of no 
necessity to him? 

On the other hand, if a man goes to a technical 
school and afterward in the practice of engineering 
makes a success of it, surely it does not prove that the 
school was an important factor in his success. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 163 

In view of the fact that the world got along suc- 
cessfully before the existence of technical schools, and 
that all the important engineering problems were 
solved before that time, and to the further fact that 
these schools have not produced any engineers of 
greater ability than the engineers who were not techni- 
cally educated in school, it would seem to be highly 
proper to raise the question whether we have not gone 
altogether too far in our rush to make technical- 
school engineers. 

Where the Danger Lies. 

The chief danger lies in the fact that the schools 
are likely to go to a great extreme in teaching theory — 
in other words, that they will take up much of the 
students' time unnecessarily. 

Doubtless a reasonable amount of theory is all 
right, but the trouble is that too many engineers are 
turned out of the schools with nothing but theory, and 
I can not find anything to show that these have been 
any more successful anywhere, as a class, than have 
the engineers who received no technical-college edu- 
cation. 

Technical-school education should be subjected to 
the same tests as any other sort of education. The 
primary object of schooling is to teach the things that 
ordinarily are hidden — that is, the things which can 
not be learned in the ordinary practice of any line of 
work. And when we seek for the things that practice 
can not, or does not, teach we are likely to find that 
there is very little left for the schools to do. 

The ordinary person is likely to get confused 
regarding all sorts of schools of the technical kind, 



164 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

by imagining that they are the fountainhead, the place 
where everything originates in connection with the 
Hnes they teach. 

As a matter of fact, nothing originates in these 
schools, for it all has been originated by practical men. 

The technical school, for example, is simply a store- 
house for information that has been gathered from the 
practical workers of the world. 

It must be obvious that none of the knowledge 
which the technical-school man possesses could have 
been secured through theory. Of necessity, this knowl- 
edge must have originated in practical experience and 
have been developed through practical processes. 

To bring this point nearer home, I may be excused 
for making a personal reference : 

When I was engaged in the steam-heating business, 
I arranged and perfected half a dozen or more novel 
meritorious systems of warming and ventilating, and 
planned the apparatus of quite a variety of unusual 
buildings — requiring the nicest calculation in getting 
the heating surface correct, and in every case it was 
absolutely correct. 

In all of these I worked out all of the details which 
entered into every feature of the plans. These I had 
to determine from practical experience, and I do not 
hesitate to say that the various systems were perfect, 
not only in heating and ventilating, but in smoothness 
of operation and economy of construction. 

Technical Schools Have Their Field. 

Now, if these things had been copied and done by 
a technical-college educated man, which is the usual 
case, I do not doubt that he would have been looked 
upon as considerable of an engineer, almost a genius. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 165 

The way this matter is viewed generally, he would 
have been given credit for being a great engineer, 
while I, as a steamfitter and practical man who fur- 
nished all the brains, would have been without stand- 
ing. 

And what I have said in regard to my own case is 
as true of every feature of engineering work. j 

I admit that there is a legitimate, though limited, 
field for technical schools. If they would confine them- 
selves with diligence and great discretion to accumulat- 
ing the best practice of the best practical men, and 
preserve this information and experience, so that it 
might be handed down with discretion to the students, 
they might do considerable good. 

But, as I understand it, these schools are open to 
the severest criticism, because their work is not done 
with discretion and the students are not instructed with 
judgment. 

As I have been informed by a good engineer, the 
necessity for technical schools is not so much to stuff 
the minds of the students with a lot of rules and fig- 
ures, as to have them become familiar in a general way 
with the subject and to know where certain and best 
information may be had when they want it. 

To-day the student's mind is crammed with a great 
quantity of this information, an enormous amount of 
which is immaterial ; and of that part of it which may 
be material to him, he probably will forget nine-tenths 
of it before the time comes when he may require it in 
practice. 

And in no case would it be prudent for the prac- 
ticing engineer to depend upon his memory for impor- 
tant rules and figures. The prudent man simply will 
go back to the authorities and there ascertain definitely 



166 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

what the rules and figures are before he attempts to 
use them. 

I may illustrate this indiscreet, if not useless, teach- 
ing of the schools by referring to a letter received from 
an engineer, a technical-school graduate, who said in 
one part of it : " During the past five seasons over 
$400,000 worth of work has been done under my 
charge ; I can not say that there was a single instance 
which absolutely necessitated a technical-school educa- 
tion." 

It is perfectly clear from this engineer's letter that, 
notwithstanding this admission of having received no 
benefit from these schools, he is a warm friend of 
technical-school education ; so it can not be said that 
I have quoted one who is prejudiced against such 
instruction. 

Small-salaried Professors. 

Another point suggests itself in this connection : I 
think that in this country there is very little really 
good, substantial ability in the faculties of our tech- 
nical schools, nor can we expect to get satisfactory 
results from instructors who receive not more than 
$3,000 or $4,000 a year. 

An inconsistency here arises : If these professors 
are as capable of producing good engineers as they 
would have the public believe they are, they would not 
be occupying the positions they have, but would be 
secured by some of the great engineering establish- 
ments. But, in my judgment, no engineering estab- 
lishment would give those fellows $2,000 a year, and 
it is perfectly absurd to imagine that such professors 
can make first-class engineers. 

I understand that in Germany the technical schools 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 167 

pay high salaries for instructors, professors and lec- 
turers, picked from among the best of those who are 
actually engaged in engineering work, who are fully 
up-to-date, and who, consequently, are altogether the 
best qualified to teach others their profession. 

It seems almost impossible to get reliable informa- 
tion on this subject from either class of engineers, tech- 
nical or practical, because each seems to be prejudiced 
against the other. So I am compelled to avoid both in 
seeking facts and in forming opinions. I shall, however, 
in the course of this part of my subject, present an 
array of indisputable facts, and leave it to those who 
are interested and qualified to draw their own con- 
clusions. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE FIELD FOR ENGINEERS. 

There are all kinds of engineers, and, as most of 
the engineering work is comparatively simple, it is not 
surprising that a large number of engineers are not 
technically educated in the schools ; in fact, it would 
be the height of folly to send this class of men to 
school. 

Perhaps not more than five per cent of all engi- 
neering work requires the skill of the most highly 
trained engineers. And when practically all of even 
this five per cent of important work has been done in 
the past by non-technical-school men, where is the 
sense of sending the rest to be technically educated in 
the schools, especially when we consider that a man 
can earn good wages while learning engineering in a 
practical way. 

Uncommon Brain Capacity Needed. 

It seems to be clear that the great engineer must 
be a man of unusual brain capacity, whether he be 
school-educated or self-educated. This is self-evident. 
It also is perfectly clear that no school can give a man 
brains. 

Any one who has had large experience with men 
in factories, or in doing any kind of public work that 
requires a large number of men, knows that men of 
brains are an exceedingly scarce article. Probably 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 169 

not more than one man in a thousand, even among 
those who go to technical schools, has any unusual 
amount of brains. 

The object of the man of unusual ability going to 
a technical school is to learn the hidden things, and 
the important things of unusual practice; and proba- 
bly not more than one year would be required to learn 
all there is in this line. 

When we take into consideration that it costs proba- 
bly $5,000 to give a boy a technical-school education, 
and that, as above stated, not more than one person 
in a thousand who attends these schools has the brain 
capacity to make an eminent engineer, it will be seen 
that the education of the one person who is really 
benefited by the schools cost $5,000,000. 

Big Cost for Small Results. 

If exception should be taken to my figures, let it be 
conceded that only one in one hundred having the brain 
capacity for such training, the training of this one 
would cost $500,000. Or, even admitting that one in 
every ten might be benefited, his education would cost 
$50,000 — even the smallest figure being a pretty stiff 
price to pay for what little he gets of practical value. 

There seems to be a difference of opinion between 
the English and the German people as to the best way 
to produce engineers. The former, as I understand 
it, believe that engineers should be given more of the 
practical experience and less of the theory; while the 
latter claim to be able to make better engineers by 
giving more of theory and less of practice. 

History and the most readily obtainable facts favor 
the English side of the question most decidedly — that 
is, the greatest engineers the world has known, those 



170 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

who laid the foundation for practically all of the engi- 
neering knowledge we have to-day, belonged to 
England and were wholly without technical-school 
education — or even general education except of the 
most ordinary kind. 

Engineering in England. 

While no engineering works of particular conse- 
quence were undertaken in England before the latter 
part of the eighteenth century, apparently all the 
greatest problems in engineering were solved in that 
country within the following hundred years by these 
self-educated engineers. 

It is evident that before the engineering problems 
were presented and worked out there could have been 
nothing upon which to base courses in technical edu- 
cation; so where I do not find mention of technical- 
school education in the training of the great engineers 
of that day, I assume that there was none to be had 
that was of any account. 

Yet how it must impress us when we consider the 
wonderful amount of skill and ability and wisdom 
displayed by these founders of the engineering profes- 
sion in England, As the problems arose, the English- 
men were equal to the occasion, and soon there was a 
demand for engineering talent of the highest order, 
and an immense amount of work was accomplished in 
the most intelligent manner. 

An Array of Brilliant Men. 

Look for a moment at a few of these notable men 
and their equally notable achievements : 

John Smeaton, the father of civil engineering in 
England, began as a mathematical instrument maker; 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 171 

but as a self-taught engineer he has left the present 
Eddystone lighthouse, a number of drainage works, 
docks, bridges, etc., not to mention many valuable 
papers on engineering contributed to the Royal Society. 
Brindley, the father of canal-building in England, 
was apprenticed as a millwright, but later took up 
engineering. His first canal, a perfect level waterway 
between Liverpool and Manchester, is one of the won- 
derful engineering feats of the age. Brindley was 
considered the foremost engineer of his day, and fur- 
ther proofs of his skill are to be seen in roads, bridges, 
waterways, etc., throughout England. 

Rennie, Telford, Brunel. 

John Rennie rose entirely by his own merits from 
a machinist to the crowning engineering triumph of 
the Southwark and the Waterloo bridges over the 
Thames — still among the notable and beautiful 
structures of the world, the Waterloo bridge having 
been declared by the celebrated Canova to be " the 
finest fabric of the kind he had ever seen." The 
Crinan canal and many docks, not to overlook the Bell 
Rock lighthouse, are further evidences of Rennie's 
greatness. 

Telford was a mason in his earlier years ; then 
took up engineering and became one of the world's 
most notable bridge-builders. His suspension bridge 
over the straits of Menai was a structure spanning 
more than five hundred feet and the first of its kind. 

As it consisted of stone pillars on each side of the 
strait to carry chain-cables from which the bridge 
proper was suspended, and as the problems involved 
were not only new but were practically the same as 
those connected with the building of all such structures 



172 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

since that day, it is not difficult to see in all the sus- 
pension bridges of later years merely a reproduction 
of the Telford bridge — no matter what their size or 
the material used in the construction of other note- 
worthy suspension bridges. 

I might also mention the Chirk aqueduct, the Coal- 
brookdale iron bridge, the bridge of Dunkeld, Scot- 
land, Harecastle tunnel, the Caledonian and other 
canals, and several drainage works and docks, all 
speaking eloquently of Telford's surpassing skill and 
ability as an engineer. 

The First Thames Tunnel. 

Sir Isambard Brunei stands as the successful 
builder of the first tunnel under the Thames, and as 
the inventor of the tunneling shield, the principles of 
which are the same as those in the shields of to-day, 
though the methods of operation are somewhat differ- 
ent. 

This was but one of Brunei's many engineering 
achievements, but I regard his tunnel under the Thames 
as one of the greatest pieces of engineering even up to 
the present day. When we consider that the diffi- 
culties of such a task were many, that the problems to 
be worked out all had to be solved by him, and this 
at the very birth of extensive tunnel construction, we 
can not hold Brunei in too high regard. 

To avoid steep grades at either end, Brunei ran 
his tunnel at so high a level that in places the crown 
of the brickwork came to within four feet of the 
water of the Thames. Naturally this increased the 
difficulties of construction ; yet during the twenty 
years in which the great work progressed, the most 
trying situations were met with untiring persistence 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 173 

and uncommon skill, and no problem in such construc- 
tion was left unsolved for the tunnel-builders of the 
future. 

Important Problems Solved. 

It is well to keep this successful achievement in 
mind when we are considering the problems presented 
by such tunneling as is going on under the rivers 
around New York city, for Brunei was the father of 
all this sort of engineering. 

Following Brunei as a tunnel-builder came Barlow. 
His Tower tunnel under the Thames was a successful 
piece of work, but not to be compared with that of 
Brunei, for at no point did Barlow allow less than 
eighteen feet of solid London clay to come between the 
crown of his tunnel and the bed of the river; and, 
besides, he had all the advantages of the shield invented 
by Brunei. 

This much for the non-technical-school engineers 
of England, and what they did to merit a high place 
in the world's history. America also has had men of 
this caliber and of this practical training. 

American Engineers. 

One of the earliest engineering works of magnitude 
in this country was the building of the Erie canal, a 
waterway nearly three hundred miles in length and 
with numerous locks. Considering the time, the facili- 
ties, and the comparative youthfulness of engineering, 
this was a remarkably good piece of work. It has 
stood the test of years, and it stands to-day as a com- 
plete and satisfactory piece of work; in fact, no better 
canal has been built since then, which may be consid- 



174 TECHNICAL AND SPEOAL SCHOOLING. 

ered ample proof of the skill and thoroughness of the 
men who planned and built it. 

Prominent among these were James Geddes and 
Benjamin Wright. After the canal commission, about 
1810, had imported at large expense an engineer from 
England — William Weston by name — and he had 
failed to satisfy the commission as to his ability, 
Messrs. Geddes and Wright offered to undertake the 
work if the commission would give them its full con- 
fidence. 

The Work of James Geddes. 

The offer was accepted, and from that time until 
the completion of the canal, in 1825, the name of James 
Geddes is most prominently connected with all the 
active and practical work. 

Mr. Geddes was of fine education, though almost 
wholly self-educated. He was a farmer's son, and 
studied while following the plow. He became well 
versed in foreign languages and was one of the best 
mathematicians of his day. 

Assisted by Mr. Wright, Mr. Geddes made some 
remarkable surveys of the route of the canal before 
actual construction began. Starting at points about 
two hundred miles apart, the two surveyors ran their 
levels toward each other, and these levels met with a 
variation of only a trifle more than an inch. This 
feat compares favorably with some of the work of 
modem engineers in running levels for tunnels. 

Considerable has been said at various times about 
the surveying, especially of the tunnels through the 
Alps and the tunnels under the rivers around New 
York. Apparently many think it was a very clever 
piece of engineering to have these tunnels surveyed so 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 175 

accurately, commencing at opposite ends ; but in this 
case we see that the levels were run for two hundred 
miles absolutely accurate, where the East River tunnel 
is only a couple of miles long — so that it appears from 
this that the old-fashioned engineers understood this 
business fully as well as they do to-day. 

Most Successful Engineering. 

From these facts, and the further fact that the 
canal was finished under the direction of these men, 
within eight or nine years, and was in every way a 
successful piece of work, the names of James Geddes 
and Benjamin Wright have earned the right to be 
included in the list of civil engineers who without the 
assistance of the technical schools have done work 
equal to the best that has been done by any of the 
world's eminent engineers in this line since then. 

Another good piece of early engineering was the 
original Croton aqueduct, by which pure water was 
brought into New York city. 

John B. Jarvis, designer and constructor of this 
aqueduct, began as an axman on the Erie canal. He 
was promoted to the position of rodman, and when the 
canal was partly finished, he was made resident engi- 
neer of a seventeen-mile section of it. 

In 1825 he was made superintendent of resident 
engineers. Later he became chief engineer of the Dela- 
ware and Hudson Canal Co, Other positions of trust 
and importance followed, until in 1848 he was made 
chief engineer of construction for the Croton aque- 
duct. This aqueduct proved a great success, and is 
still in use. This aqueduct across the Harlem, while 
it is not a wonderful piece of work, has been for all 
these years an object of great admiration. 



176 TECHNICAL AND SPEQAL SCHOOLING. 

In 1850 Mr. Jarvis visited Europe and was received 
with great honors on account of his engineering 
achievements. 

Dry Dock at Brooklyn. 

Another good piece of engineering work in the 
early days was the building of the dry dock in the 
Brooklyn Navy Yard, which was built in the 40's. I 
do not know the size of the dock, but it was a large 
one for those times, and the engineers met with great 
difficulty in consequence of quicksand in making their 
coffer dams and getting a proper foundation for the 
dock; but they were able to overcome all difficulties 
and made a very successful piece of work. There is 
no piece of engineering around the city of New York 
to-day that is worthy of more praise than this. But, 
unfortunately, I do not know who the engineers were 
who are entitled to credit for it, but, of course, it is 
safe to say that they were not technically educated men, 
because there were no such men in the country at that 
time. 

Another early engineering feat was the develop- 
ment of water power at Paterson, New Jersey. I do 
not know the engineer, but the work was done about 
one hundred years ago, and I think stands exactly the 
same to-day, which, of course, proves the perfection 
of the original work. The water power is constructed 
on three different levels. 

James Buchanan Eads, in point of achievement, 
was one of the greatest engineers this or any other 
country has produced. His great bridge across the 
Mississippi at St. Louis was notable in every way, its 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 177 

main span of five hundred feet having been pro- 
nounced the finest piece of metal archwork in the 

world. 

Notable Work of Eads. 

But the most remarkable feature of this bridge was 
the caisson work and the building of the foundation 
and piers, which was by far the greatest piece of engi- 
neering work of its kind produced before or since. 

His jetties in the Mississippi encountered and suc- 
cessfully solved problems of the first magnitude, and 
it must not be forgotten that in the projection of these 
he was opposed by practically every engineer of the 
United States army, who finally were compelled to 
admit that he was right. 

Eads was the first American citizen to receive the 
Albert medal from the British Association for the 
Advancement of Science, as a recognition of his signal 
engineering achievements. 

Eads was a man of liberal education and broad 
culture, but almost wholly self-taught. At thirteen he 
was compelled to quit school and to help in the sup- 
port of his brothers and sisters ; but he always found 
time for the reading of the best books he could secure. 
It was in the school of practical experience that he 
gained the deep and accurate knowledge so success- 
fully applied in his notable career as an engineer. 

William Howe is another name that deserves 
honorable mention here. About 1840 he invented a 
combination truss which became widely known in the 
building of many of the earlier bridges. It is undoubt- 
edly a fact that Howe thus became an important factor 
in the building of the first railroad bridges in this coun- 
try; and when we consider the large part that wood 

played in these structures, Howe must be classed as 
12 



178 TECHNICAL AND SPEQAL SCHOOLING. 

great as any of the bridge inventors and designers who 
followed him. 

I might mention here other builders of bridges, but 
in recent conversation with one of our oldest engineers, 
who has had a large amount of experience, I was 
informed that the planning of the best railroad bridge 
work over the Mississippi and Missouri rivers was 
about equally divided between practically educated 
engineers and those who had received a technical- 
school education. 

The Mormon Temple. 

The Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City is worthy 
of mention here. I do not regard this as any great 
piece of engineering work, except when we take into 
consideration the men who planned and built it, and 
the conditions under which it was constructed. 

The building of this temple took three years. The 
roof is an elliptical dome, resting upon forty-four but- 
tresses of solid masonry. No nails or iron were used 
in the construction of this dome, or in any part of the 
building, all timber joints being tied together with 
buckskin thongs. 

The building is two hundred and fifty feet long and 
one hundred and fifty feet wide. The ceiling of the 
roof is nearly seventy feet from the floor and is arched 
without a pillar. The full height of the structure is 
eighty feet. 

The building was designed, as to general appear- 
ances and dimensions, by Brigham Young, then presi- 
dent of the Mormon Church. It was constructed under 
the supervision of Henry Grow, with Truman O. 
Angell, official church architect, as adviser on all diffi- 
cult problems which might arise. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 179 

Brigham Young was a carpenter and joiner. He 
used to say that his entire formal schooling covered a 
period of three weeks. He had a natural aptitude for 
architecture, but not even the rudiments of technical 
education. 

Henry Grow also was a carpenter. He did a good 
deal of bridge-building, and built the first suspension 
bridge in Utah, across the Ogden river. 

Truman O. Angell also was a carpenter, a man 
with scarcely any school education, a natural architect, 
with not a particle of technical education. 

These men simply were good mechanics, and did 
not claim to be engineers. Yet how good was their 
work, how remarkable when we consider that no iron 
was used in the construction of this temple, and that 
it has stood all these years without showing defect. 

Work of Practical Men. 

Probably no technical man could have done this 
work, or have admitted that it could be done. He 
would have depended upon his scientific education and 
the school way of doing things, and these would not 
have allowed him even to imagine that the Mormon 
Temple could have been built in the way it was done 
by ordinary mechanics. If the Mormons had depended 
upon a technical-school educated man to guide them 
in these matters, it would not have been built until 
they could have procured iron. Incidentally, I would 
mention that the acoustics of this building are proba- 
bly the finest of any building in the world. 

When we come to some of the work of the tech- 
nical-school men of this country, I would say that my 
attention has not been called to any technical-school 



180 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

educated engineer's work of special importance, except- 
ing that around New York city, so I shall confine 
myself to the work done there. 

Persons of any observation can see that there has 
been a great amount of large engineering work con- 
structed, comparatively within the last few years, and 
to a person not familiar with the subject I can readily 
understand that it would seem that there was a great 
deal of wonderful engineering ability connected with 
it, and undoubtedly there is a lot of good engineering 
work. 

The Brooklyn Bridge. 

I mention the work of a highly technically edu- 
cated engineer, Mr. John A. Roebling. Mr. Roebling 
started in this country in engineering work in making 
a mechanism for hauling canal boats up an incline, 
and did some canal work. He seemed to have been 
the originator of, or at least early in making, wire 
cables. 

His first suspension bridge was built at Pittsburg 
over the Monongahela river, which was a success. He 
afterward built the suspension railway and vehicle 
bridge across the Niagara river, which also turned out 
to be a great success. 

His next great piece of engineering work was the 
Brooklyn bridge, which is another notable achieve- 
ment as a piece of engineering work, and is beautiful 
in its architectural construction. I can say the same 
of the Williamsburg bridge ; they are both works 
that I take great interest and pleasure in, and I never 
go to New York without going over both of them, and 
I feel that the men who designed and constructed them 
are certainly entitled to a great deal of credit, even 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 181 

though they did not evolve any new scientific or great 
engineering features. 

Old Principles Employed. 

Of course, the principle of the suspension bridge 
is old, and there are no new features connected with 
the bridge, although Mr. Roebling is, however, entitled 
to great credit for having advanced this style of con- 
struction away beyond anything that had previously 
existed. He and his assistants were also entitled to 
great credit for figuring out the proportions and 
strength, and designing every detail, which he appears 
to have done with the greatest proficiency. This 
involved an enormous amount of good close study of 
all the factors that entered into such a gigantic under- 
taking. 

I have it on good authority, however, that when it 
came to actual construction, " in place of assistant 
engineers, he (Roebling) preferred to work with intel- 
ligent, practical foremen, such as master masons, mas- 
ter carpenters, master machinists, etc." 

Now we come to the Pennsylvania tunnel and the 
station work. I have in my correspondence memo- 
randum papers stating that the engineers in charge 
of the designing and management of these tunnels 
were Alfred Noble, C. L. Harrison, S. H. Woodward, 
James Brace and Francis Mason. I understand that 
they were all technical-school educated engineers. 

I understand that they had at one time about four 
hundred engineers on the job, which looks as if they 
were running a refuge for technical-school men who 
couldn't get a job any place else. 

I also have the following statement in regard to 
this subject from Charles M. Jacobs, chief engineer 



182 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad, in reply to a 
letter of inquiry I sent on this subject. 

" With reference to the general character of edu- 
cation in proportion to the practical side, as mechanical 
engineering- forms such an important factor in the 
consideration of these works, the best men have gen- 
erally had mechanical training, working in shops, and 
more particularly in mining works, and then obtaining 
experience in underground mining." 

New York Tunnel Work. 

I would say in addition to what Mr. Jacobs says 
in regard to the successful tunnel builder, that in my 
opinion some of the most important things about tun- 
neling under the river are that the engineer should 
have a complete knowledge of the difficulties he may 
get into, and at all times be prepared to meet any 
emergency. The principal sources of trouble that he 
may get into are quicksand and flow of water, and he 
must be keen to observe the slightest indication of 
trouble ahead that he may guard against it. 

In this job they start in at Bergen hill with the 
tunneling. Of course, there is nothing new or great 
in making a tunnel through rock under ordinary cir- 
cumstances, but in tunneling through the earth from 
the rock to the bank of the river may arise problems 
that require good practical engineering ability. 

We now come to the portion of the tunnel work 
under the river, which presents problems of the great- 
est magnitude, and, in fact, there is no problem of 
engineering to-day that requires better judgment, skill 
and experience than this class of engineering. But 
all of these engineering features were covered by Sir 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 183 

Isambard Brunei, who built the tunnel under the 
Thames over a hundred years ago. 

Size Not Very Important. 

As to the hole in the ground in New York, there 
is, of course, nothing great in this. A person who can 
blast a small hole can blast a big hole if given time 
enough, so it will be seen there is no new engineering 
feature connected with this whole subject. 

As to the engineering feature of this work, I would 
say, it is difficult to understand where technically 
trained engineers can be of any great service in work 
of this kind. Certainly, the building of tunnels is not 
a matter that technical schools are likely to know much 
about, and I would say that notwithstanding the above 
fact that the engineers connected with this job claim 
to be technical-school educated engineers, I will ven- 
ture the information that such a man as Mr. Jacobs 
describes as having practical experience in this work, 
is altogether a more important man, and absolutely 
indispensable in carrying out work of this kind, 
whereas the technical-school educated man is, in my 
opinion, simply an ornamental figurehead. In other 
words, I maintain that such a man as Mr. Jacobs 
speaks of could carry out this whole job without the 
assistance of a technical-school educated man. 

Take the underground system of railroads, the 
same is true of them ; there is no great engineering 
feature connected with them. It is much the same as 
the case of the Pennsylvania Railroad tunnels. It 
wants a man of large experience in this kind of work 
and of good common sense. Of course, the engineers 
laid out the routes, size, stations, etc., which is no great 



184 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

engineering problem. And what is true of these jobs 
is true of everything around New York city. 

There is an immense amount of good mechanical 
work in these jobs, which, of course, is all done by the 
practical man. The glory of all this work belongs as 
much to him as to the engineer. The mechanic could 
do pretty near all this work without an engineer, but 
the engineer could not do any of it without the me- 
chanic. Yet the engineer is getting all the glory and 
credit for this sort of work. For example, the prac- 
tical man, in erecting the Brooklyn bridge, performed 
quite as meritorious a piece of work as Mr. Roebling 
did in his part of designing it. 

Some engineers claim that we have bigger engi- 
neering problems to solve to-day than they had years 
ago ; therefore, that it is necessary to have engineers 
with technical-school education to handle them. Admit- 
ting that the problems of to-day are greater, they 
would embody the same principles as those of an 
earlier day, and practically all of them were solved 
before we had any technical schools. 

It is easily seen that once we have mastered the 
construction of a bridge to carry a fifty-ton locomo- 
tive, a bridge to bear a hundred-ton locomotive pre- 
sents no new problems. If these engineers were called 
upon to-day to build a wooden railroad bridge of the 
same character that we had before the introduction of 
steel and iron, they would find it very much more of a 
problem to build a wooden bridge to carry a twenty- 
five-ton locomotive than they did to increase the 
strength of a bridge strong enough to carry a fifty- 
ton locomotive to one that would carry a hundred-ton 
locomotive. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 185 

Buildings of the Past. 

This applies to all sorts of construction work. Our 
buildings to-day are no bigger than some of the build- 
ings that were constructed hundreds of years ago. 
We are not doing anything in this line that surpasses 
the Pantheon, the Coliseum, or St. Peter's in Rome, St. 
Paul's in London, or many other examples of the best 
of the designer's and the engineer's art that the world 
has seen. 

From all that I have said upon this subject, it is 
evident that there are two ways of making engineers. 

The technical-school way is to take the boys with- 
out any particular judicious selection — take them 
" just as they come " — and give them a technical 
training, without any regard as to whether or not they 
have brains or any unusual ability. The schools seem 
to go on the idea that they can make good engineers 
out of anybody. 

The other way is through practical lines. For 
example: If a bridge-building firm should select its 
apprentices with care, giving them a thorough training 
in the construction and erection of bridges, and after 
this training, if it is discovered that they had unusual 
ability, then if the company would furnish them with 
books giving the exact theoretical training that they 
require in their particular business, the company 
would, in my opinion, get far superior men to those 
produced by the usual technical-school method. 

Get Theory from Books. 

Notwithstanding the fact that the evidence shows 
there is no occasion for the ordinary engineer to go to 
a technical school, it does not appear unreasonable 



186 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

that he might get some benefit from schooh"ng. But, 
whatever he requires in this way he ought to be able 
to get to better advantage from the correspondence 
schools, perhaps, than from the regular technical 
schools, though what he requires are matters he could 
get right from books. He knows what he wants, but 
may not know the books ; he does not need a teacher 
to urge him to study, and the teacher does not know 
anything but that contained in the books, and in this 
case he is working and studying, and making a living 
at the same time. 

One important reason why the practical engineer in 
general lines is likely to turn out better than the tech- 
nical-school trained man is that he has been, in the first 
place, like the case of the bridge man suggested above, 
selected by his employer because he appears to have 
natural ability and has been promoted to higher posi- 
tions when his employer found out that he had superior 
ability. 

I realize that the technical schools will answer my 
statements by saying that their graduates are in great 
demand by business men whose judgment can not be 
questioned. On this point I will say that there is a cer- 
tain amount of truth in such statements, but the ques- 
tion is whether it really proves that these schools are 
important. 

Results of an Inquiry. 

In order to ascertain just what the demand for 
these boys amounts to, I sent a letter of inquiry to 
graduates from the engineering departments of the 
universities of Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan, who 
were graduated about five years ago. 

From the one hundred replies that have been 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 187 

received, I find that the average income of the grad- 
uates, at the time they began work, was about $7CX) a 
year, which is about the price of common labor. 

This surely does not prove that employers put any 
unusual value on the services of such men. My inquiry 
also shows that after eight years of schooling and five 
years of business, or a total of thirteen years,* their 
pay averages $1,700 a year. Admitting that these 
graduates are in demand, this certainly does not make 
any great showing as to the value the employers place 
upon them ; so I claim that the demand on the part of 
the business men is shown to amount to practically 
nothing. 

Value of the Practical. 

If these same boys had gone into a factory and had 
paid for the permission of being promoted right 
through, they would have been much better compen- 
sated in a factory or business than they have been as 
technical-school graduates. 

In the factory at the end of two years — say in the 
foundry — they would have sufficient ability to receive 
wages of at least $3 a day. Then, by going into other 
departments of connected trades — two years in the 
machine shop, a year in the pattern shop, a year in the 
blacksmith shop, making a total of six years, or about 
half the time the technical-school boys spend in their 
education and practical work — if they possessed 
brains and ability they would be fitted for positions, 
such as that of superintendent, paying several thou- 
sand dollars a year. 

*I understand that the college requires the boys to have 
four years of high school and then four years of technical 
school. Five years of business added to this make the thir- 
teen years. 



188 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

I, of course, understand there are a great many 
people who are experimenting with these technical- 
school graduates ; but it remains to be seen what the 
results will be. 

Wrong Meaning of " Demand." 

This claim of the colleges of having a demand for 
these boys is much the same as the claims that the 
classical educational institutions are making, that their 
young men are in demand. They do not seem to com- 
prehend the difference between a thing being in 
demand when a $5,000 article is given away and when 
it is sold for a profit. 

If a manufacturer produced an article that cost 
$5,000, and had to give it away, he would not be 
bragging about his flourishing business. This idea the 
educator can not get through his head. 

I don't think there ever was an educated man who 
went out of the college and got a salary in proportion 
to what his education cost. These graduates generally 
have to go to work at common laborer's pay, and this 
is what the colleges call " men being in demand." 

But what if these graduates are in demand by one 
in ten, among employers — which is not an exag- 
gerated statement — what does that prove against the 
other nine employers who do not want such men ? 

To sum the whole matter up, it seems to me that 
it is absolutely clear that the old engineers of England, 
who developed pretty much everything there is in con- 
nection with this subject, and American engineers who 
have done all the work in this country up to Mr. Roeb- 
ling's time, prove that we can get along very nicely 
without technical-school educated men for all this kind 
of work. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 189 

I also wish to say that, in my investigation of this 
subject, I have not discovered where any technically 
educated engineer has constructed any better work 
than the old practically educated engineers, and I do 
not know of any case where any of them has devised 
or invented any important and fundamental device or 
discovered any principle connected with engineering 
work. 

As for mining engineers, I believe that this branch 
differs but little from civil engineering, as it consists 
principally in sinking shafts, making tunnels, pumping, 
etc. I have made some investigations in this line, and 
was not surprised to find that the best early mining 
engineering work was done in California and that 
vicinity, practically all of it by engineers who were not 
technically educated in the schools. 

Therefore, what I have said here regarding civil 
engineering applies as well to mining engineering, 
hydraulic and drainage engineering, and so I may 
dismiss these branches of engineering without further 
consideration. 



CHAPTER IV. 

TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN ELECTRICAL 
ENGINEERING. 

Electrical engineering, in consequence of being 
somewhat new, is looked upon as being a very impor- 
tant feature of general engineering. The colleges 
appear to think there is no danger of producing too 
many electrical engineers. The result is that every 
college has a course in electrical engineering, and a 
hundred of these engineers are turned out where ten 
would amply supply the actual demand. 

It may be necessary that those being trained to 
become electrical engineers should have a considerable 
amount of technical education. It is equally true that 
many of our best electrical engineers were made in the 
earlier days — and are still being made — without hav- 
ing attended technical schools. 

The question I raise, therefore, is this: Can this 
necessary technical knowledge be secured more 
economically in connection with the practical work of 
the factories, or by taking a course in some technical 
college ? 

Schools of Small Importance. 

When really strong electrical engineers, such as I 
have referred to, can be produced in the ordinary run 
of business, it seems to me that this fact should impress 
every one as reasonably conclusive evidence that in this 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 191 

particular line the technical schools are of exceedingly 
small importance. 

I think that while this matter of making electrical 
engineers has many complicated problems to solve, it 
is much the same as is the making of other engineers, 
as I have explained in my previous papers ; the elec- 
trical engineer may be developed enormously in the 
factory, more especially with the aid of some sys- 
tematic schooling. t 

In going into this subject I thought I would better 
have clearly in my mind what an electrical engineer is 
supposed to be, and I wrote to the two chief divisions 
of the General Electric Company and asked the fol- 
lowing question : 

" What is an electrical engineer ? What is he sup- 
posed to know and be capable of doing on leaving your 
works ? " 

Mr. Alexander's Definition. 

From Mr. M. W. Alexander I have the following 
definition : 

I am hardly prepared to give an authoritative definition 
of what an electrical engineer is and what he is supposed 
to do. In a general way, however, I should say that an 
electrical engineer, in the accepted definition of the term, 
is an educated man who has specialized on the study of 
engineering, and particularly electrical engineering theories 
and phenomena, and who, through the broadness of the 
studies he pursued, has learned to reason from cause to 
effect, look ahead, so to speak, to view things with an 
analytic mind. He should be able to apply the theories 
of the sciences to the working out of electrical engineer- 
ing problems, and should, based on his analytic power, be 
able to use sound judgment in applying the proper 
values to the undetermined quantities of the problem. He 
should, furthermore, be capable of evolving new theorems 
and practical applications. 



192 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

The striking thing about Mr. Alexander's definition 
is that he is so uncertain and so confused as to the 
qualifications of an electrical engineer. It seems to me 
that a person undertaking to make an engineer, or an 
engine, or anything else, should have it clear in his 
mind what he is aiming to do and shape his course 
accordingly. 

Some Obsolete Teaching. 

As I shall show in other parts of this discussion, 
Mr. Alexander claims that these engineers are very 
deficient apparently in the qualifications he lays down 
for an electrical engineer; and, as I understand from 
Mr. Alexander and have understood from others, elec- 
trical engineering is far from being fully understood 
and from being reduced to an exact science. I also 
understand that the text-books are soon out of date, 
and, of course, the teachers are likely to be consider- 
ably behind the times, as Mr. Alexander intimates they 
are. The result is that a good deal of their teaching is 
obsolete, and therefore of no value. 

Consequently it would appear that the engineers the 
colleges are turning out, with Mr. Alexander's four 
years of additional training (as I shall refer to later 
on) come far short of meeting the requirements of an 
electrical engineer as he and Mr. Rohrer (whose 
definition follows) lay down after all these twelve 
years of combined study and practice. 

From Mr. A. L. Rohrer, general superintendent, I 
have the following definition : 

An electrical engineer is one who is familiar with the 
general theory of direct current and alternating current, 
and with all phenomena relating to the generation of 
electrical energy, its transformation and its distribution. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 193 

It is desirable that he possess in addition to the above 
a good knowledge of mechanics, both theoretical and 
practical, so that he may have the practical appreciation 
of the value of machine-tool processes, the labor and ma- 
terial, and to have the ability to analyze the many prob- 
lems which may confront him. 

It will be seen that Mr. Alexander and Mr. Rohrer 
only partially agree in their definitions. Mr. Rohrer 
claims that electrical engineers should be familiar with 
transformation and distribution, also with machine 
work, which Mr. Alexander does not mention. 

Narrow Limit of Efficiency. 

In any event I am greatly surprised at the narrow 
limit which these men put on an electrical engineer. 

Apparently they look upon him as a man who can 
improve electrical machinery. This really is the point 
Mr. Alexander makes. He does not claim that the 
engineer should be able to install and manage this 
machinery, and all that. 

Now I have always thought that inventing is some- 
thing that can not be taught — that is, it is something 
that must be born in men. 

I had the idea that an electrical engineer was a 
much bigger man — a man qualified to do what I have 
outlined below. 

There is demand for an engineer who can answer 
clearly the points enumerated when called upon by the 
authorities of a town that is considering a public light- 
ing proposition, and I had supposed the technical col- 
leges were aiming to produce this sort of engineers. 

An All-around Engineer. 

The first thing the town wants to know is what the 

plant will cost, what it will cost to distribute the cur- 
ls 



194 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

rent, and what the profit will be. To give this infor- 
mation the engineer must be able to determine : 

1. The size of the plant for immediate use. 

2. The needs of a near increased demand for cur- 
rent, 

3. The plan for enlargement at a considerable 
time in the future. 

4. The general lay-out in order to determine the 
size of the building. 

5. The amount of land required. 

6. The location. 

7. Whether he will put in a condensing or a non- 
condensing engine, which will depend on the facilities 
for getting water for condensing. If the supply of 
water is some distance off, he must determine whether 
it will pay to go so far with his plant and carry his 
current so far in order to get the benefit of condensa- 
tion. 

8. To settle the question of getting the fuel to this 
plant. If the fuel supply is off some distance, the ques- 
tion arises of putting in a switch or of hauling his coal 
by team. He must determine whether the disadvantage 
of getting the current to the town is more than over- 
come by the gain of being close to a fuel supply. 

9. Convenience in handling the coal in connection 
with the boilers. 

ID. Laying out the boiler-room, and the size of 
the chimney for present and future demands. 

II. Choice of boilers — (a) whether tubular or 
pipe boilers ; (b) whether the plant will be a saturated- 
steam or a superheated-steam plant; (c) whether he 
will put in a reciprocating engine or a turbine engine ; 
(d) what make of engine. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 195 

12. All the details of fixtures connected with the 
engines and boilers. 

On the Electrical Side. 

When it comes to the electrical side, he must know 
all about the theory and practice of that, in regard to 
knowing what current it is advantageous to use and 
the choice of generators. 

He must also know as to the size of wiring through 
the town. 

He must also be familiar with the practice in build- 
ing foundations, arranging and installing machinery 
to the best advantage for the present needs and for 
future additions. 

He must be capable of making a reasonably close 
estimate of the cost of this whole apparatus. 

Now let us see how near the technical colleges come 
to producing this kind of an electrical engineer. After 
eight years of education (high-school and college) the 
college has turned out what it calls an electrical 
engineer. What kind of an engineer is he ? 

Failure by the Colleges. 

It may be seen readily from what these colleges 
have produced that they have failed completely in com- 
ing anywhere near to filling the bill I have just out- 
lined. 

On the other hand, the practical way has turned out 
many such all-around engineers. So, when we contrast 
the college method with the practical method in this 
line alone, the practical method stands in the propor- 
tion of about I GO to TO for the college method. 

Now, if the practical way has produced the lOO per 
cent engineer — and is still producing him — why so 



196 TECHNICAL AND SPEQAL SCHOOUNG. 

much fuss and so much expense about the technical 
college and its lo per cent engineer? 

It seems to me that it is a great oversight in all this 
engineering business that none of the technical colleges 
has made an attempt to meet these practical require- 
ments. There certainly has been time enough devoted 
to the making of engineers to turn out those of this 
general character, and I had supposed heretofore that 
this was the aim of the technical college, as well as of 
such companies as the General Electric. 

The " Engineer Apprentice." 

The General Electric or the Westinghouse does not 
call the engineer graduate from the technical college 
an engineer, but an " engineer apprentice " ; and they 
give him four years more of training, yet still say he is 
far from being an electrical engineer — which is per- 
fectly evident. 

So I think I may say that, after the General Elec- 
tric, or any other company, has put four years more on 
these young men, they still may be called " engineer 
apprentices," and they still have a great deal to learn, 
which will take them several years more to acquire, 
and this can not be learned in any college or factory ; 
they have to get right out in the practical operation of 
the .electric plants and learn them and from them by 
experience. 

It seems to me that the way to make electrical 
engineers of these men, after the General Electric 
Company is through with them, is to have them get 
out and take a job in helping to install machinery, and 
afterward to work in the plant taking care of the 
machinery, or firing and working up as a practical 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 197 

engineer, and in this way become familiar with the 
care of the machinery, and get a knowledge of the 
steam side of it. 

Give Him Some Practical Work. 

After spending, say, two years, in this line of work, 
if the young man could get a position in some active, 
wide-awake engineering office and put in several years 
there, making altogether about sixteen years in learn- 
ing the business, he might finally amount to something 
as an engineer ; but he would still be lacking in the 
mechanical way of knowing how to make things, and 
through this knowledge to learn of their merits, which 
he should have learned in the machine-shop. 

I would say here in regard to electrical engineers — 
as I have said in the chapter on civil engineers — after 
they have all the knowledge and experience I have 
mentioned they will not amount to much as engineers 
unless they are men of unusual ability. In engineering, 
as in everything else, the success of a man depends on 
his brains. This is more particularly true of electrical 
engineering, for in this field there is no place for the 
man of mediocre ability. 

A Very Broad Difference. 

It will be seen that there is a broad difference 
between what I supposed was an electrical engineer 
and what the General Electric Company and others call 
an electrical engineer. 

Instead of knowing what I have assumed he 
naturally should know, he is an exceedingly small man, 
even judged by the value that such concerns as the 
General Electric Company put on his services and 



198 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOUNG. 

talents. To have eight years of advanced education 
and four years as an engineer apprentice (twelve years 
in all), and then to get thirty cents an hour for his 
labor, may be a good thing for the General Electric, 
the Westinghouse, and other manufacturers, but it 
ought to be somewhat discouraging to the young man 
who has gone through it. 

As I shall show later on, many of these men called 
electrical engineers are not getting half as much pay 
as is received by many good mechanics. 

I am fortunate in that I am not required to bear 
alone the burden of proof as to the defects existing in 
the present system of making electrical engineers ; for 
I have in my possession a paper by Mr. Magnus W. 
Alexander, on " The New Method of Training Elec- 
trical Engineers," which was presented at the twenty- 
fifth annual convention of the American Institute of 
Electrical Engineers, at Atlantic City, New Jersey, 
June 29, 1908. 

In this pamphlet of thirteen pages, Mr. Alexander 
has gone into the subject exhaustively. The pamphlet, 
I maintain, proves my judgment that the system gen- 
erally in vogue of producing electrical engineers from 
technical-school graduates is a mistaken idea. 

I do not know what system the General Electric 
Company had at the Lynn plant in making its 
engineers up to the time described in Mr. Alexander's 
paper, but I do know that in Schenectady the company 
had a very crude one not long ago, referred to further 
on ; and I presume that Mr. Alexander had much the 
same system at his plant previous to going exclusively 
into the making of engineers from technical-school 
graduates. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 199 

One System That Failed. 

Some time ago, however, the company adopted the 
following : It provided a two years' college course for 
the college boys, expecting, apparently, in this way to 
make thorough electrical engineers of them. The com- 
pany instituted what it called a " thorough-going sys- 
tem," educating the student-apprentices on all lines, in 
order to make them not only competent engineers, but 
acquainting them with the value of the Company's 
products as compared with the products of competitors. 

It also was aimed to make salesmen through this 
system. There were special shop committees to look 
after the training. 

Mr. Alexander states that he has had dealings with 
several hundred of these graduates, and apparently at 
one time had great faith in the work they were doing, 
but finally concluded that " it was not the most effect- 
ive method of training designing and construction 
engineers." 

He continues : 

It fails to give that insight into the practical side of 
electrical engineering and into the proper relation of the 
economic forces of an industrial organization that is more 
and more demanded of those who wish to take leading 
positions in the industrial fields. Moreover, the atmos- 
phere at the college is charged with little of the serious- 
ness of business. The correlation of theory and practice 
is not sufficiently close to facilitate the proper apprecia- 
tion of the sciences in their concrete applications. 

He also volunteers the information that he thinks 
this is the experience of other people who have 
engaged college graduates. He goes on to a con- 
siderable extent giving good reasons why colleges fail 
and explaining their shortcomings. 



200 TECHNICAL AND SPEQAL SCHOOLING. 

A Theory of Co-operation. 

The method above described not giving the desired 
results, Mr. Alexander has now a theory of what he 
calls cooperation, and he has become convinced that 
the proposed system will overcome all the defects of 
the previous plans. 

The cooperative plan is to divide the time equally 
between the factory and the college, but as to the 
length of each period he is not clear. He is inclined, 
however, to think that a month in the shop and a 
month in the college, running this along for five years 
and winding up with a year wholly in the college 
would bring the best results. He takes the ground that 
practice and theory should go more hand in hand than 
has been the case thus far. 

It is better for the youth, he contends, to have much 
more of the practical side of engineering. One of the 
ideas that Mr. Alexander appears to have on this mat- 
ter is that if the boy has the association of the factory 
it will prevent him from being demoralized by the col- 
lege, and that it will bring him to realize what the 
making of an engineer means — particularly what 
being a successful engineer means. 

He also has the following to say in regard to the 
merits of the plan : 

Above all, it will produce engineers technical in their 
specific knowledge, cultured in their usefulness of life's 
activities, sympathetic in their understanding of the aspira- 
tions and needs of men, and broad and enlightened in 
their conception of their own obligations as engineers 
and as citizens. 

Of course, this scheme is like the previous one he 
has tried — in that it is simply an experiment. It 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 201 

seems to me to be a new idea and to have the approval 
of several others; but in view of the fact that Mr. 
Alexander has failed in his previous schemes there 
does not seem to be any particular reason why one 
should have any great confidence in this, as it has not 
been indorsed by any one who has had experience with 
it, and not recommended to any extent by those who 
have not experimented with it. 

In regard to this new system, Mr. Alexander has a 
great deal to say about its superiority over the previous 
one above mentioned, as will be seen. 

Trying Various Plans. 

To my mind when he adopts a new system and 
claims great merits for it over the old one, it naturally 
follows that the old one was defective in all the things 
for which he claims merit in the new one. 

The astonishing thing about the whole matter is 
why he was ever so enthusiastic over making electrical 
engineers from the technical-school graduates, in view 
of the fact that he now sees so much defect in it ; and 
especially is it strange that he carried the thing so far 
as to try hundreds of them. 

It seems to me that the defects of the former sys- 
tem should have been apparent much sooner to any 
practical man. 

With all that I have said in regard to Mr. Alex- 
ander's previous plans, I think it is only fair to say 
that I believe his present plan is better than the one he 
has abandoned — that is to say, he is now getting 
toward the plan that has a little sense to it, for the 
reason that it gives very much more shop practice, but 
still is a long way from the correct one, as I think I 
can make clear before I get through with the subject. 



202 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 
A Serious Question. 

It must not be lost sight of that Mr. Alexander in 
the past has recommended a plan that involves eight 
years of schooling — that is, four years in high school 
and four years in college — in addition to two years in 
the factory and two years in the engineering depart- 
ment, making twelve years in all, to produce what is 
now, according to his own statement, a failure in 
making engineers. 

This fact of taking twelve of the best years of a 
young man's life is certainly a sad thing to reflect upon 
— and not only taking his time but also his money — 
and a few such men in this country are responsible for 
this terrible calamity. 

Mr. Alexander's factory represents more brains, 
more ingenuity, more schooling and more that counts 
for education than all of the technical schools and col- 
leges that exist. 

His condemnation of the technical school is the 
most severe of that of any person I know. 

No college can be compared for one moment with 
the educational facilities of such concerns as the Gen- 
eral Electric. Of course, the company not only has the 
advantage of the manufacturing end of the business, 
but it has immensely better engineers to look after the 
theoretical training than any college could afford to 
have. 

I am also fortunate, and for the same reason given 
on page 198, in finding an article on this subject by 
Mr. A. L. Rohrer, electrical superintendent of the 
Schenectady works of the General Electric Company, 
in a publication of 1904. In this article Mr. Rohrer 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 203 

has this to say, in substance, on the subject of making 
electrical engineers : 

Views of A. L. Rohrer. 

He states that, at the time of his writing, they have 
264 men and these are all used in the testing depart- 
ment. He goes on to say on the subject of the 
qualifications of men for this department : 

First. They must be graduates of some technical 
school, or 

Second. They must have had such experience in a 
machine shop, repair shop or central station as would, 
in the company's opinion, enable them to do satis- 
factory work in that department. 

I understand from other sources that in Schenec- 
tady some years ago they, to a certain extent, took 
green men right into the testing department, appar- 
ently to make electrical engineers of them. 

It will be seen from this that Mr. Rohrer makes a 
tremendous drop from educated men having eight 
years of schooling to men who have had neither college 
nor factory training. So we have in the case of Mr. 
Rohrer more of the inconsistency referred to in regard 
to Mr. Alexander. 

I do not agree with Mr. Rohrer that he can make 
electrical engineers without considerable theoretical 
and mechanical training. 

From the General Electric Company I get some 
more rather important information in regard to what 
the demand for technically educated men amounts to. 

Not Valued Highly, 

In the company's system boys are taken for two 
years in the testing department, starting for the first 



204 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOUNG. 

six months at 20 cents an hour until they get 27^ 
cents an hour. The boys then are taken to the 
engineering department, where they start in at about 
the same pay they have been getting in the testing 
department, and spend two years there. 

From this it will be seen that they start in at prac- 
tically laboring men's wages, and after spending about 
twelve years they get the average mechanic's wages, or 
about three dollars for ten hours' work. 

Just here I would mention the fact that in Ger- 
many, it has been stated by a professor, this same class 
of men — technical-school graduates — who go into 
the factories do not get any pay at all. From this it 
will be seen what German manufacturers think of the 
technically educated men — and yet we hear so much 
of the value the Germans place on such education. 

In a letter to Mr. Alexander, of the General Elec- 
tric Company, referring to his paper on engineers from 
which I have quoted, I suggested that his company 
undertake to make its own electrical engineers. 

He answered to this suggestion that it was not the 
business of a manufacturing institution to manufacture 
engineers. 

In reply to this I would say that I think it is rather 
late for Mr. Alexander to take this position. He 
recognizes the necessity for making mechanics, and 
does make them, and he goes into considerable school- 
ing in order to insure his getting good mechanics. 

In the engineering line he takes technical men and 
gives them two years of education in order to make 
them good engineers and also puts them several years 
in the engineering department, which is practically 
going half way in making engineers. 

So as to the policy I suggested I think it would 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 205 

be but a small step to make the engineers complete, 
particularly in view of the fact he could make them 
to an enormous advantage, and the making of his 
engineers is of the same importance to the success of 
the business as the making of mechanics. 

Suppose he should make these engineers himself 
and require them to pay for the privilege of learning 
the business, the same as the colleges do. Can not it 
be seen that this plan would be an enormous benefit to 
both him and these young men? In this way he not 
only would be receiving pay from them during this 
period, but would then get real engineers, and the 
young men, by becoming real engineers in this way, 
would get something of great value for their money, 
whereas the colleges can give them only the most 
meager qualifications. 

A Valuable Suggestion. 

This suggestion, I maintain, is worth millions of 
dollars to the General Electric Company and an equal 
amount to the engineers that are made in this way. 

What factory that is paying for labor can compete 
against one in which the workmen actually pay for the 
privilege of working? 

And as the help would cost nothing, why not use 
the tuition fees to buy material, and thus get both help 
and material practically without paying for it? 

Another peculiar position that Mr, Alexander takes 
on the subject is in regard to the early electrical 
engineers. He admits that good engineers were made 
in the evolution and development of the business, but 
states that this method of making engineers is now 
impracticable because the business is brought up to a 



206 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOUNG. 

high degree of perfection, and it was only through 
working on this evolution that they got to be great 
engineers, and that the technical-school education is 
now a necessity, taking the place of the advantages the 
early engineers had in digging out the science of the 
business. 

An Absurd Proposition. 

Now, to my mind, this is absolutely an absurd and 
ridiculous proposition, as I can not see how the tech- 
nical-school education can take the place of the 
research work of the early engineers. Nor do I under- 
stand on what ground he can claim that better 
engineers were made before this science of electricity 
was thoroughly understood and was being developed 
than can be made to-day in a thoroughly up-to-date 
factory, where every feature of the science of the busi- 
ness and the skill and ingenuity of manufacturing have 
been brought up to the very highest pitch ; nor is there 
any ground for such a claim. 

To assert that a person can not be educated in a 
factory completely upsets the theory of education. If a 
person can not be advantageously taught at the factory 
where the article in which he is interested is made and 
thoroughly understood, and where the atmosphere is 
charged with the science of the thing, then there is no 
place on earth where he can be educated. 

I think in connection with the subject it is well to 
look into several matters that few people consider, even 
among those who are actually concerned — and that is 
the great economical factor of learning by observation 
and association. 

If we stop to reflect, of course, we can readily see 
that an enormous percentage of everything we know 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 207 

we gain in this way, and the actual schooling that we 
find important is a very small part of the whole. 

We all know that the most highly educated men are 
those who have traveled, read, and associated with 
numbers of intelligent persons ; and what applies in 
this general way applies particularly to mechanics. 

Value of Association. 

As a matter of fact, if a boy goes into a factory to 
learn any kind of trade, it is a very small percentage of 
the trade that is taught to him. He learns most by 
observation and association, by seeing the things done. 
It is not necessary to teach him. 

This not only applies to simple mechanics, but 
applies to some lines that have science in them. 

Take the carpenter. There is no occasion for him 
to be taught the science of bridging floor joists, putting 
in braces and making simple trusses. The greater part 
of this he can see and understand its importance, and 
after seeing, it requires no science to enable him to do 
the work. 

I think we may go a step farther and take the case 
of an unseen science, like electricity. While a boy can 
not learn anything of this science by observation, he 
can learn a large amount of it by association. To the 
contrary, a boy going to a technical school learns 
nothing by observation and association to his advan- 
tage. 

Along the same line I will say that I heartily agree 
with what Mr. Alexander has to say in his paper on 
the other demoralizing effects that colleges have on 
boys, and to which I have referred previously — all of 
which is obviated in the method of making engineers 
which I shall outline hereafter. I will say, in addition 



208 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

to the demoralization that Mr. Alexander mentions, 
that the industrial one is not the worst ; the moral one 
is infinitely worse. 

This being a fact, I can not understand how any 
practical man would ever think of sending a boy to a 
technical school to learn that which he can learn in the 
factory at the time he is learning the practical mechan- 
ical part of the business, and where he is making a 
living at the same time; in other words, beginning at 
the right end of the matter. 

Where Advantage Lies. 

Take a concern like the Westinghouse or the Gen- 
eral Electric. A boy learning a trade with either of 
these companies has, to my mind, an enormous advan- 
tage in learning the business of electrical engineering. 
The whole surroundings and enthusiasm of great 
factories can not but make an impression on the boy 
of the importance of industry, and the grandeur of the 
business, its necessary economical operation, and the 
advantage of knowing everything associated with it. 
It inspires him with the most decided love and admir- 
ation for the work with which he is connected. 

Any boy who has the right spirit in him certainly 
would be greatly influenced in his manly instincts by 
such surroundings. 

I don't think there is any pleasure to be compared 
with that a mechanic gets out of a piece of good work. 
On leaving the factory at night he can see that he has 
accomplished a good day's work and produced a good 
job. This certainly adds much to his pleasure, espe- 
cially when he sees one of the great turbine engines, 
such as the General Electric Company makes, of 20,000 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 209 

horse-power, and he feels that he has made an essential 
part of it. 

It seems to me this must make him feel like a man ; 
whereas, the technically educated man, who has been 
taught to despise labor and industry and to depend on 
science for his livelihood, has nothing of this pleasure 
and satisfaction. 

How Discontent Is Bred. 

And the question comes in here that I have touched 
upon in some of my previous papers, of the breeding 
of discontent and disloyalty and the disorganizing of a 
business that grows out of bringing in outsiders to 
learn something that the boys in the factory know and 
understand fully as well; and these factory-trained 
boys are more competent to fill the higher positions 
than are college boys who are brought in. 

I can not imagine anything more demoralizing to a 
factory than to conduct it on these lines ; that is, by 
taking away the factory boy's natural right to advance- 
ment, which he has earned by his industry, skill and 
loyalty. It not only affects the boys who are directly 
interested, but it has a demoralizing effect upon the 
whole factory, as the workmen are not slow to see 
these blunders. 

Every man who has a boy who is deprived of his 
rights gets soured, and the boy's friends get soured at 
the stupid, blundering injustice of taking away the 
boy's natural rights. 

It is a matter of the greatest Importance that the 
workmen throughout the factory can see that their 
boys are getting a chance to reach the higher positions. 

14 



210 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOUNG. 

A Substitute for the College. 

You ask perhaps : As you condemn existing 
methods of training electrical engineers, what method 
would you suggest ? My recommendation is this : 

Select boys for the machine-shop apprentices with 
the greatest care. Watch over them carefully in the 
first instance to see that they are what the employers 
are seeking as material for good machinists. Give 
them a little outside training, as the General Electric is 
doing. If the foremen who keep close eye on the boys 
discover that any of them has unusual ability, let such 
be put in the line of direct training for electrical 
engineering. 

Such boys as this, after having two years of prac- 
tical training in the machine-shop — say one year at 
benchwork and a year at toohvork — shifting around 
considerably, would get the knowledge of that part of 
the work that is required to make of them good elec- 
trical engineers. 

Then let them be put in the testing department a 
sufficient length of time to learn, under the same care- 
ful supervision, what is to be learned there, but see 
that they are advanced as rapidly as possible. 

From this department a short course in the draft- 
ing room should be given. 

Next, they might be put in the erecting and instal- 
ling department; and then in the department where 
they have the steam and electric plants for a sufficient 
time to get a knowledge not only of the electrical 
machinery, but also of steam engines and boilers. 

Now, this whole time, I should say, would not con- 
sume more than six years ; and in such cases the com- 
panies would get much better engineers than they have 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 211 

been getting, and the boys would be earning their liv- 
ing the whole time. 

Carefully Prepared Reading. 

During this time the boys could attend night-school 
as much as is necessary, and be furnished with books 
on the science of the different lines of electrical appara- 
tus, books that contain only such things as the best 
practical men know to be essential. If necessary, lec- 
tures could be given advantageously by the companies' 
own engineers, who know decidedly better what these 
boys require than any school teacher could possibly 
know. 

It would be a good plan for the companies to pre- 
pare their own text-books, so that only essential things 
regarding theories would be taught the apprentices. 

Such great concerns as I have named, I maintain, 
could easily afford to give boys the training here out- 
lined. What little this would cost the companies, in my 
estimation, certainly would be a good investment for 
the factory, as such boys would always feel under 
obligations to the factory and would be loyal and 
devoted to the firm. Undoubtedly, also they would 
grow into positions where they could do the factory a 
great deal of good. Such men are not likely to be 
running away because they can get a half-dollar or a 
dollar a day extra somewhere else. 

I regret that I have not been able to get from Mr. 
Westlnghouse, or the Westinghouse Company, an 
expression of opinion on this matter of making elec- 
trical engineers, but I have no doubt that conditions 
there would be found to be much the same as in the 
factories of the General Electric Company. 



CHAPTER V. 
MEDICAL EDUCATION. 

I think that the readers who have followed me 
through my investigations of different lines of higher 
schooling must have seen that there is quite a varia- 
tion in the degrees of curse pertaining to these schools. 

The majority of the colleges that give a classical 
education only I believe no longer deceive the public 
to any great extent, for I have noticed that but few of 
them pretend to give the student anything of practical 
value. All they profess to do is to make him an orna- 
mental member of society. If any one is deceived by 
them it is largely his own fault, as sufficient light has 
been thrown on this particular subject for some time 
to protect people against any imposition from this 
source. 

Overproduction of Lawyers. 

But, in the case of the technical and agricultural 
schools, the curse of the education they give should be 

prefaced by a large D , for, as I have shown, these 

institutions are doing an enormous amount of damage. 
Still, this damage affects the student only, and not the 
public. When we come to the making of lawyers, 
however, we strike a branch of higher schooling where 

the curse should be prefaced by several D 's, not 

only on account of the colleges themselves, but because 
of the results coming from them. 

Without going into details, I think it is safe to say 
that one-half of all the crime, degradation, imposition. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 213 

fraud and corruption that we find existing about us 
to-day is due to the lawyers. It is this class of men 
who have made wholesale robbery and theft possible, 
and who have given to these crimes the air of respecta- 
bility; they are the ones who humbug judges and 
juries and stretch the laws so that the unscrupulous 
may impose on the public. In fact, it is the lawyers 
who stand like a stone wall between the great criminals 
and the public and enable the rascals to keep out of 
the penitentiary. 

When important criminals are on trial it will be 
found that double their number of rascally lawyers are 
endeavoring, by sharp tactics and unscrupulous meth- 
ods, to free them and thus defeat the ends of justice. 
These people not only are guilty of an enormous 
amount of stealing themselves, but are the back- 
bone of all other great thieves. 

The overcrowding of the legal profession is the 
chief cause of the cussedness of this line of education, 
the number of lawyers produced being so large they 
are obliged to resort to all sorts of dishonest measures 
in order to make a living. Probably every business 
man or manufacturer has learned from his own expe- 
rience what a curse this class of men is. They will 
hang around one's place of business to find out when 
an accident occurs, so that they may secure a case, and 
should they succeed, they resort to all sorts of sharp 
practice for the purpose of making trouble. 

I have in mind such an instance that occurred in 
my own business. This case grew out of a trifling 
matter that from the outset it was apparent we had 
nothing to do with and were not responsible for, yet 
the unscrupulous lawyers and idiotic judges kept it in 



214 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

the courts for ten or twelve 3'ears at a cost to us of 
over $12,000. 

Coming now to the subject of this chapter, " Med- 
ical Education," I find it difficult to determine which 

should be prefaced with the greater number of D 's 

— the law colleges or the medical schools. 

The overcrowding of the medical profession brings 
about conditions quite similar to those that have just 
been described in referring to the lawyers ; that is, 
by reason of this overproduction, doctors are obliged 
to resort to all kinds of trickery, sharp practice and 
imposition in order to obtain business. 

It is difficult to estimate the amount of damage 
thus caused, but doubtless it is very great. Many 
times doctors will make well people ill, or, when 
already ill, will prolong their illness, or will perform 
unnecessary operations. 

Facts Regarding This Matter from a Reliable 
Source. 

I have been fortunate in finding a paper delivered 
twenty-five years ago by one of our leading physicians 
before the Alumni Association of the Chicago Medical 
College. As this makes out my case as I anticipated 
when I decided to take up this subject, and therefore 
relieves me from the necessity of making an investi- 
gation myself, I quote from it as follows : 

Gentlemen, — Before announcing the topic of my 
address to-night, I will state that I recognize the fact 
that at our annual meetings, occurring, as they do, on the 
commencement day of our college, it is customary to make 
the professional outlook as cheerful and bright as possible ; 
to picture in glowing colors the noble and heroic life of 
the physician, and to dwell with emphasis on the fact that 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 215 

there is always " room at the top." Therefore, in deviat- 
ing to-night from the usual course pursued, and, instead, 
presenting a few sober facts to your consideration, I trust 
you will find a sufficient explanation in the urgent neces- 
sity, the duty we owe to each other, to thoroughly discuss 
the dangers of the hour, embraced in my theme to-night : 
The overcrowding of the profession, its causes, effects, and 
the remedies to be applied. 

The curse of the profession to-day is a multiplicity of 
medical colleges, most of which are of an inferior type, 
veritable diploma mills. In the United States, with a popu- 
lation of fifty millions, we have twice as many medical 
schools as exist in all the following countries combined, 
namely: The German Empire, the Austrian Empire, the 
Russian Empire, Great Britain, France, Sweden and Nor- 
way, representing a population of three hundred millions. 
In Chicago alone we have more medical schools than may 
be found in the whole Austro-Hungarian Empire, and we 
graduate in this city this year more physicians than are 
annually licensed to practice in the whole German Empire 
with a population of forty-five millions. Think of it, gen- 
tlemen ! It ought to make our cheeks tingle with shame, 
for the existence of such facts constitutes a national dis- 
honor, reflects discredit upon every American physician, 
and justly makes us the laughingstock of the whole 
civilized world. 

Consider for a moment the origin of the average med- ! 
ical school in this State. Any five physicians, actuated by ,' 
an intense desire to increase a limited practice, can club/ 
together, forward $4.50 to the Secretary of State, receive' 
by return mail the necessary charter, and another medical I 
college is organized. What is true of this State is true ' 
of every other State in the Union, and thus it happens that 
we see medical colleges springing up everywhere, in cities, 
villages and out-of-the-way places, without any reference 
to the needs of the profession or for the sake of the com- 
munities, but simply for the purpose of giving the " organ- 
izers " an unfair advantage over their competitors in the 
practice of medicine. The average medical college, then, 
is nothing but an advertisement scheme to enrich the 



216 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

few at the expense of many. It enables the physician, 
utterly unknown outside the circle of a limited practice 
and his immediate relatives, to suddenly blossom forth as 
a professor of the principles and practice of medicine or 
of surgery; it enables him to adorn his letter-heads with 
the seductive title, and gives him an opportunity to explain 
to the unsophisticated patient any absence from home by 
the statement that he was lecturing at the college. It 
enables him to advertise in various and many ways, and 
at the same time not conflict with the code of ethics. No 
wonder, then, that in Chicago alone we have over one 
hundred and fifty professors and lecturers on medicine, or 
about one professor to every six physicians, although even 
this low ratio is constantly diminishing, so that in time 
the physician who is nothing but a plain M.D. will be 
indeed a rarity — a startling curiosity. 

Consider, again, the course of instruction in vogue in 
nearly all of our medical colleges. Two courses of lec- 
tures, of from four to five months' duration, in each 
course the same lectures repeated, transform the medical 
student, whether fresh from college, from a store, or from 
the farm, into an M.D., with all the rights and privileges 
pertaining to that degree. Well may the learned and elo- 
quent Professor Pepper, of Philadelphia, in a most admi- 
rable essay on higher medical education, exclaim, " Can 
it be that the apprentice must practice five years before 
he is regarded as a skilled workman, fitted to mend or 
make rude machines of iron or brass, and that in this 
land of intelligence and common sense one who has studied 
medicine less than one-third that time may have his 
license to meddle with and make or mar that most won- 
derful machine — man's body — infinitely complex, gifted 
with boundless capacities, and freighted with the awful 
responsibility of an immortal soul ? " . . . But, alas ! 
so it is, and, as Professor Pepper is my authority in stat- 
ing that the vast majority of American medical students 
receive the degree in medicine without ever having felt 
a sick man's pulse or listened to the sounds of the lungs 
or heart, I question which is the greatest public calamity, 
an occasional epidemic of cholera, or the regular recurring 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 217 

annual epidemic of some four thousand doctors let loose 
on an innocent and unsuspecting public? 

Compare, but for one moment, the system of medical 
education in force in all other civilized countries. Take 
Germany, for example, which is a fair type of them all, 
although in several of the other countries the course is 
even longer than there. But one comparison virill suffice 
for our purpose. To matriculate in any German university 
the medical student must pass a preliminary examination 
in Latin, Greek, German, history, mathematics, and the 
elements of natural science. The course of lectures extends 
over four years, nine and one-half months in each year, 
and is as follows : 

Number of hours weekly. 

Chemistry 6 for i year 

Physics 4 for i year 

Zoology and Comparative 

Anatomy 3 for i year 

Botany . . . . , 3 for i year 

Mineralogy and Geology 2 for i year 

Anatomy, Histology and 

Preparation of Specimens. . lo for i year 

Physiology, with work in 

Laboratory 8 for i year 

General Pathology, Patholog- 
ical Anatomy, with practical 

work 6 for i year 

Pharmacology, Toxicology, 

Prescription Writing 2 for i year 

Special Pathology, Medical 
Clinics, Course on Physical 

Diagnosis lo for 2 years 

General and Special Surgery, 
Clinics, Bandaging, Operat- 
ing 5 for 2 years 

Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 

Clinics 3 for i year 

Eye and Ear Clinics, use of 

Ophthalmoscope, Operations 4 for i year 

Forensic Medicine 2 for i year 



218 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

Examinations are held at the end of the second year 
(tentamen physicum) upon anatomy, physiology, chemis- 
try, physics, botany, zoology and mineralogy, and at the 
end of the fourth year, upon the remaining subjects of the 
course. This latter examination precedes more or less 
closely (according to the proficiency of the candidate) the 
final examination, which is conducted by the faculty, each 
professor examining the candidate in his own department. 
After passing the examination and presenting a printed 
thesis, he receives the degree of doctor of medicine. This 
degree, however, does not entitle him to practice, and he 
has still to pass another examination before a State board 
of examiners. This examination is divided into five sec- 
tions, and includes, besides a theoretical examination, the 
preparation and demonstration of specimens of the osse- 
ous, vascular and nervous systems ; the demonstration 
of an autopsy and a practical examination in medicine, 
obstetrics and gynaecology, physiology and microscopy. As 
showing the severity with which the State examinations 
are conducted, it may be stated that, on an average, twenty- 
five per cent of the graduates fail. 

Who are the teachers? Four dollars and fifty cents 
does not constitute a professorship in German universi- 
ties. Those temples of science are occupied by men whose 
names appear in every text-book of medicine and are 
familiar to every student and physician, first as lecturers, 
then by reason of original work and popularity promoted 
to the position of so-called extraordinary professors, and 
finally, when known as authorities, promoted to the high 
positions of ordinary professors, they occupy the loftiest 
stations in public esteem and admiration, and their hon- 
ored names endure forever. 

From the fact that we have more medical schools than 
can be found in the rest of the whole world, it naturally 
follows that we have also a greater proportion of physi- 
cians to the population than exists in any other country. 
I According to the census of 1880, in a population of 
. j fifty millions we had 85,761 physicians, or one physician 
i to every 585 persons. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 219 

In France, the proportion is one physician to every 
2,000 persons. 

In Austria, one to every 2,500 persons. 

In Germany, one to every 3,000 persons. 

In Italy, one to every 3,500 persons. 

In Sweden, one to every 7,500 persons. 

And so on. 

Permit me to again quote Professor Pepper: . . . 
" The profession at large are awakening to the fact that 
its ranks have been fearfully overstocked by the selfish- 
ness of the medical schools, and I make bold to assert, 
well knowing the unparalleled depression of all business 
interests, that there are but few classes of the community 
of which a larger proportion are not earning a living than 
of the medical profession." 

One of the most prominent physicians in New York 
city, who has given a great deal of thought and attention 
to the matter under consideration, states his opinion thus : 
" In reality, to-day, a young man without money or influ- 
ence, whatever his talents, address or attainments, and 
however exceptionally equipped for his work, has less 
prospect of success, starting in the world as a physician, 
than in any other department of intellectual activity. 
Energy might avail him in business, but not in medicine, 
and the more energetic he is, the more it will gall him to 
wait for patients that never come, and starve while they 
are coming. I could tell you the subsequent history of 
many promising graduates, such tales of broken hearts, 
blighted ambition, disappointed hopes and wrecked lives, 
from no fault of their own, only because there are three 
doctors where only one is needed. And this is the pass 
to which our present system of medical education has 
brought a once noble profession." The Boston Medical 
Journal — the most conservative medical journal in the 
United States — has the following editorial in a recent 
number : " The swarms of young men that are about 
to invade the numerous medical schools might well pause 
before setting forth on this so perilous career. Such delib- 
eration is especially proper on the part of those who con- 
template exercising the profession as a livelihood, and 



220 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

who possess no resources on which to fall back for a 
series of years during the waiting for patients. There 
may be room in the upper story, but there is no lack of 
eager, hungry, able competitors for the vacant space that 
is there." 

But, gentlemen, what use is there in quoting the opin- 
ions of others ? There is not an alumnus present to-night 
who can not confirm all that has been said, from his own 
personal experience and observation. 

The action of our diploma mills, in adding each year 
thousands of young men to the ranks of a profession 
already filled and overflowing, is rapidly producing an 
army of genteel paupers, too proud to beg, too honest to 
steal, but too poor to exist. 

My remarks, gentlemen, are not dictated by any bitter 
feeling. My own lines have fallen in pleasant places. 
But it is the knowledge of the truth which I assert, the 
result of personal investigation, the acquaintance with 
many in the profession, who, though brilliantly endowed, 
are struggling for a mere pittance by reason of the terri- 
ble competition ; the tales of poverty, debt and misfortune 
which it has been my lot to be obliged to listen to — it 
is for these reasons, gentlemen, that I protest against this 
infamous system of medical education in this country; 
this starting of medical colleges where none are needed ; 
multiplying them where there are already far more than 
are required; creating more free dispensaries to diminish 
still further the scant field in which the young physician 
has to find an existence. Against these abuses I protest, 
and ask your cooperation in endeavoring to stem the tide 
which is sweeping us down to a still lower plane of pro- 
fessional strife and degradation. What, then, is the 
remedy? No reform can be expected from the colleges, 
for obvious reasons ; for, managed as they are, as private 
enterprises for business purposes solely, they naturally 
resist anything calculated to impair the very object for 
which they exist. As, in a free country like ours, it is 
unfortunately impossible to cause the " professors " to be 
imprisoned at hard labor and the colleges to be burned 
down — we have to seek elsewhere for relief. The indi- 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 221 

vidual physician can do nothing, but, as in unity lies 
strength, so with us, if we will only cooperate, much can 
be accomplished. 

I am told by good authority that, although since 
the foregoing paper was written there has been a 
decided improvement in the medical education fur- 
nished by the best colleges, the abuses of the unscrupu- 
lous medical schools are fully as bad to-day as then. 
Also that the overproduction of doctors is fully as 
great at the present time, for, while their number is 
diminished by death and other causes at the rate of 
about twenty-five hundred a year, the colleges are 
turning out from five thousand to six thousand new 
doctors each year to take their places. 

In the address quoted the writer referred to the 
doctors who establish these medical colleges as being 
young and inexperienced, and, in some cases, border- 
ing on what might be called " sharks," and I wish to 
say that I happen to know this is not always the case. 
At the time that address was delivered the Rush Med- 
ical College, of Chicago, and the Chicago Medical 
College, probably were two of the meanest and most 
low-down examples of such institutions that ever 
existed, and, as I have already mentioned on page 132, 
they were run by some of the very best physicians in 
the city. When doctors of the highest standing are 
found conducting such " mills " as these, what can be 
expected of the lower grade of physicians? 

It is a question with me whether the community 
would not be better ofr if we could go back to the old- 
time method of making doctors, under which they first 
served a sort of apprenticeship with some good doctor, 
and then went to a medical school for a few years. 



222 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

There has been much talk in recent years about the 
fraud and swindling resorted to by some of our high- 
grade doctors, which also may be said of some lawyers. 
They seem to act on the theory that the charge for 
their services ought to be based on the wealth of their 
patient, or client ; but how they justify the charging of 
a fifty-thousand-dollar fee in a five-hundred-dollar 
case is incomprehensible to me, and I claim it is noth- 
ing less than highway robbery. 

If a bricklayer who was willing to work for a poor 
man for $4 a day should demand $100 a day when 
working for a rich doctor or lawyer, I am sure they 
would at once class him among the highway robbers. 

As showing to what ridiculous extremes this coun- 
try has gone in the matter of medical colleges, I quote 
the following from a recent publication : 

A list of medical colleges of all foreign countries shows 
a total of 165 such colleges outside the United States, 
while this country alone has 144. In other words, of the 
309 medical colleges in all countries, the United States 
has 144, or forty-seven per cent, while the thirty other 
nations altogether have only 165, or fifty-three per cent. 

All European medical schools are medical faculties of 
universities or are under the direct control of universities, 
and there are no proprietary schools such as predominate 
in this country. 

One of the most conclusive evidences of the over- 
production of doctors, I think, is the fact, as reported 
to me by a prominent physician, that the yearly income 
of all doctors in this country averages about $600. 

The overcrowding of the medical profession also 
leads to an immense amount of abuse in connection 
with the hospitals, but I shall not undertake here to 
go into the details of this feature of the subject, as it 
already is well understood, and would make this arti- 
cle too long. 



CHAPTER VI. 

SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION — IS IT IMPOR- 
TANT IN THE PRODUCTION OF 
SCIENTIFIC OR PHENOMENAL DIS- 
COVERIES OR INVENTIONS? 

Having disposed of the subject of classical, busi- 
ness, technical and medical education, to my entire 
satisfaction, I will now see what I can do to knock 
out scientific education, and, in a subsequent chapter, 
will knock out agricultural education. 

In my papers on technical education there has been 
more or less mention of scientific matters in their 
direct relation to manufacturing, construction, etc., 
and where discoveries and inventions of a scientific 
character grew mainly out of a necessity for them. 

For the sake of convenience I classify discoveries 
and inventions as follows : Scientific or phenomenal, 
ordinary or adapted. Ordinary inventions and adapted 
inventions I have considered in previous articles ; and 
before leaving this discussion on educational matters, 
I wish to glance briefly at the first class. 

My reason for doing this is the existence of a 
belief among nonthinking persons that most of what 
may be called our phenomenal inventions — the inven- 
tions closely alHed to scientific discoveries — have 
come wholly from scientists, and that this belief is 
coupled with the conviction that none but a scientific 
person could make one of these inventions. The some- 



224 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

what popular idea is that, to get scientific results, 
schools of science are an absolute necessity, and the 
object of this paper is to ascertain to what extent that 
is true. 

Unjust toward Practical Men. 

I maintain that this is a mistaken idea, which is 
responsible for a great deal of confusion and injustice 
toward the practical man and for a wholly unwar- 
ranted conception of the importance of the scientific 
man. 

So far as benefiting humanity is concerned, only 
applied science, or knowledge, is of value. No matter 
how much science the schools may teach, or how much 
science is developed through their teaching, its value 
must be measured by the amount of it that is used for 
the good of humanity. 

The history of the world gives abundant proof 
that science in itself has been of little use save where 
it has made a close alliance with practice. It is the 
practical man — and in the majority of instances the 
man without scientific education — who is to be cred- 
ited with the great bulk of our inventions, not only 
the adapted and ordinary, but also the phenomenal. 

It has been well said that " necessity is the mother 
of invention." The need for something never yet in 
use has brought forward the great majority of 
inventors. But there are other inventions and dis- 
coveries which did not grow out of what might be 
called an apparent necessity. 

The chemical composition of water was such a dis- 
covery, the telephone and the talking machine were 
such inventions. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 225 

A Puzzling Question. 

The puz;^ling question is how to account for a man 
making such a scientific discovery or such phenomenal 
inventions? Does a scientific education lead a man to 
think that something which appears to be impossible 
or improbable can be done? If not, what is there in 
a man's mind that leads him to do a thing of this 
nature ? 

How did Franklin conceive the idea that he could 
draw electricity from the clouds? Why did Morse 
believe he could send this same force along a wire as 
a means of communication? What gave Gray and 
Bell the idea that the human voice, capable of being 
heard ordinarily only a few hundred feet, could be 
sent by wire for hundreds of miles? What gave Edi- 
son his conception of the incandescent lamp and of the 
talking machine, and Marconi the idea of wireless 
telegraphy? Why did Field fancy he could send speech 
under the ocean? What suggested to Watt that water 
is a compound and not an elementary substance? 
What led Welte and Bockisch to make the wonderful 
discovery that a mechanical piano-player could be 
made that would reproduce the exact characteristics 
of the pianist? 

These are but a few examples out of many that 
might be mentioned to show that the practical man 
should be given credit for at least a very large per- 
centage of all the discoveries and inventions of a 
scientific nature that have increased the comfort, hap- 
piness and profit of mankind. 

Here are a number of the most phenomenal discov- 
eries and inventions the world has seen, but it is 
doubtful if any of these men stand preeminent as 
scientists. 

15 



226 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

Those who did these extraordinary things are in a 
class far above the ordinary inventors, men in practical 
lines of work. Yet they are inventors, not scientists, 
practical men rather than theorists. It is their prac- 
tical work that has benefited the world. 

It being a fact, as already stated, that science has 
but little to show in matters pertaining to the welfare 
of mankind, why do so many persons dofif their hats 
in homage to the scientific schools and the scientists 
and overlook the substantial claims of those who have 
applied their inventions and knowledge to useful and 
practical ends? 

It is simply another case of the unthinking being 
dazzled by the glamour of the colleges. To them the 
word " scientist " has a subtle and mysterious meaning, 
and they can not understand how any one not scientif- 
ically trained in some school could possibly get on 
speaking terms with the hidden things of nature. 

What History Shows. 

A cure for this unreasonable and false attitude 
would be a short study of the world's progress. For 
such a study would show that most of the basic things 
of modern science were discovered or theoretically 
worked out long before our schools of science and 
scientific courses came into being; that practical men 
— often unschooled men — laid, broad and firm, the 
foundation for all that these schools can teach to-day. 

In this and all the preceding articles I have written 
on education my chief purpose has been to show the 
falsity of the claims for all kinds of higher schooling 
and to do justice and give credit where it belongs. 

I believe I have been conservative in asserting that 
at least ninety per cent of all that goes to make life 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 227 

worth living we owe to the mechanic and the inventor ; 
and I doubt if the higher educators can show that they 
have much claim even to a part of the remaining ten 
per cent. 

The Research Fad. 

I can not leave this subject of education without 
taking some notice of the " research " fad. While this 
is not strictly speaking education, it is closely allied to 
educational institutions, and I consider it the acme of 
all the great hobbies of the higher educators. The 
great idea in this whole matter seems to be to have 
some research work connected with these institutions, 
in order to bolster them up and give some excuse for 
their existence. 

Technical education has a certain fascination; sci- 
entific education draws and dazzles even more 
strongly; but neither of these can be compared with 
the great and wonderful things promised under the 
glittering title of " Research." 

There is no end to the subjects which the research 
dreamer goes into to satisfy his ambition ; in fact, I 
can not conceive of a greater array of things purely 
idiotic. Of course, I leave out of the list such useful 
work as medical research, work that promises some- 
thing worth while to human kind. What I have in 
mind is the man who has the astronomy microbe ; the 
one afflicted with the meteorite bacillus ; the victim of 
the north-pole mania; the fellow with the flying- 
machine bug; and the person attacked by the 
archeological germ. 

These enthusiasts are willing and ready to spend 
hundreds of thousands of other people's money on 
these and similar senseless things, when the chances are 



228 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

not one in a thousand of anything being discovered of 
value to mankind, and the probabiUty is that this one 
discovery will cost a thousand times more than it is 
worth. 

Their search usually is like looking for a needle 
in a haystack ; and too often their success is akin to 
that of the mountain which, after much labor, brought 
forth a mouse. 

One specimen of this research fad and its lack of 
value is found in the awarding, in 1907, of the Nobel 
prize for Physics (amounting, I believe, to $40,000) 
to Prof. Albert A. Michelson " for his optical instru- 
ments of precision and for his investigations made 
therewith in spectroscopy and in the science of meas- 
urement." 

I have not heard of any results coming from this 
discovery and can not imagine how anything could 
be gained from it, as the whole idea as to its value was 
based on a false theory. While it may have been a 
nice piece of scientific discovery, I think it is a strik- 
ing example of the scientific man drawing upon his 
imagination as to the value of his work. 

This case also proves that the men having charge 
of the making of these awards, who were selected by 
the Swedish Academy of Science, are persons whose 
judgment in such matters can not be depended upon, 
for had they possessed any common sense they never 
would have granted an award for such a discovery. 
This is another blunder of the highly schooled class 
of men, 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY 
AND TECHNICAL-SCHOOL GRADUATES. 

One of the worst sinners in encouraging technical 
schools is the Pennsylvania Railroad. While it is not 
as great a sinner as the General Electric Company or 
the Westinghonse Company, still it is bad and deserves 
to be mentioned here. 

This railroad company frequently is quoted as hav- 
ing such a wonderful system for making its own help 
out of college men and is such a great believer that this 
system has much to do with promoting the loyalty and 
good will of its men and the success of its road, and it 
also has so much to say about its wonderful organiza- 
tion and its superiority over any other road in the 
country, that it may be of interest to the public to see 
what all of this talk amounts to. 

The stockholders of this road have a perfect right 
to run the road with technically educated men, even if 
no one in the United States agrees with them, and it is 
no one else's business. And if they choose to run an 
asylum for half-baked engineers — as I have referred 
to in Chapter III — that also is their own affair. But 
when the officials of the road go out into the lecture 
field and take most decided grounds that their road is 
run better than other roads, and that this is due to 
their employing technically educated men, and that this 
class of men are in demand generally by manu- 



230 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

facturers, the management of this road becomes a 
matter of public interest, and it is right and proper to 
raise the question as to whether their judgment is 
infallible and every one else is wrong. 

Only One Opinion in Fifty. 

It is strange that men should be so sure of their 
position on this subject when they have no evidence to 
support it, and especially when their opinion is only 
that of one in twenty or one in fifty among men in the 
same line of business. They do not seem to be able to 
see that, while the Pennsylvania Road, as they claim 
(without warrant as I shall show further on), has 
been run largely by technically trained men, other 
roads have been run just as well without such men. 

Some time ago an article by Mr. Samuel Church, a 
secretary of this road, appeared in The Yale News, in 
which he said : 

" There is no longer any question in regard to the 
superior availability of a college-bred man for promo- 
tion to the higher positions in industrial establish- 
ments." 

He goes on in a gushing way about the great 
importance of technical and higher education generally, 
and, as another example of his style, I quote the fol- 
lowing : 

" The engineer who has been trained to study the 
statues of ancient Greece will build a better bridge than 
the man who can not describe the Parthenon frieze." 

Perhaps it was a man of this class who planned the 
Blackwell's Island bridge or the ill-fated bridge over 
the St. Lawrence River, near Quebec ? 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 231 

A Few Pointed Questions. 

In order to ascertain whether Mr. Church had the 
experience to justify his claims, I wrote to him and 
asked him the following questions : 

1. How many years have you had experience with 
men who have had a technical-school education? 

2. How many technical-school educated men have 
been under your immediate charge and had close atten- 
tion from you? 

3. (a) Have you ever given close attention to the 
brighter class of young men with your company who did 
not go to college? (b) If so, did you notice in them 
any shortcomings that would appear to give the college- 
educated man an advantage over them? 

In order to get at the real merits of this question it 
seems to me it is necessary to imagine a case something 
like this : 

Take two boys of equal natural ability and just through 
with grammar school. Let one go on through four years 
of high school and then four years at college. Let the 
other put in these eight years learning the railroad busi- 
ness, dividing the time up as follows : 3 years in machine- 
shop, 2 months in car-building shop, 2 in foundry, 2 in 
pattern-shop, 2 in blacksmith-shop, 3 in firing on loco- 
motive, 2 with track repairer, 9 surveying, laying tracks, 
grading, etc., 3 in testing department, 6 in purchasing 
department, 3 at smaller country stations, 3 at a large 
freight station, 3 in passenger department, 6 in auditing 
and bookkeeping departments, 2 in train despatcher's 
office, 12 in division superintendent's office. 

While in the department last mentioned (the division 
superintendent's office) he would look into all kinds of 
accidents, landslides, washouts, snow blockades, wrecks, 
etc., in other words, get a clear insight into all the diffi- 
culties which a division superintendent has to contend 
with. 

4. Do you claim that the boy who spent the eight 
years in high school and college will be more useful and 



232 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

valuable to you in your railroad business than the one 
who follows the other course I have mentioned? 

Mr. Church's answer is too long to pubHsh in full, 
and in any event almost all of it is not pertinent to the 
matter in question, for, while he has been with the 
Pennsylvania Road for some thirty-four years, his time 
was largely spent in the office of superintendent of 
transportation and as assistant secretary and in other 
office positions. 

Railroad Men Quickly Made. 

Therefore, he might have answered my questions 
by stating that he had had no experience with either 
technically educated or practical men in the lines where 
these men are used, and consequently knew nothing 
about the subject, which, of course, would have ended 
the discussion. 

Another example of his ignorance on this subject is 
shown in the following remark in his article already 
referred to : " On the railroad we want a man in the 
shops who can not only take an engine to pieces, that 
being his analytical power, but who can also construct 
it when its parts are first assembled." 

Now let us see what qualifications the college man 
has for this job. 

In the Pennsylvania Company's system for making 
important help for its motive power department, it 
takes college men and puts them through the following 
apprenticeship course for four years : 

Erecting-shop, 6 months; machine-shop, 6; vise- 
shop, 3 ; air-brake shop, 2 ; blacksmith-shop, 2 ; iron- 
foundry, 2; boiler-shop, 2; car-shop, 6; roundhouse, 
4 ; firing locomotive on road, 3 ; shop clerk's office, 2 ; 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 233 

motive power clerk's office, 2 ; drawing-room, 3 ; test < 
department, 5. 

Small Amount of Experience. 

From this it will be seen that the apprentices spend 
about fifteen months in the machine line, and this is all 
the experience these college men have to qualify them 
to put a locomotive together. 

It is a most surprising thing that Mr. Church can 
not see the stupidity and absurdity of his claim that 
the college man with this fifteen months' experience is 
superior to the practical man who has had many years' 
experience. Also, that thousands of engines have been 
put together by the practical man for every one that 
has been put together by one of these college men who 
is trained accordingly to the company's method. 

If the facts were known, I do not doubt we would 
find that not one of the Pennsylvania's apprentices ever 
had or could put a locomotive together. 

These college men do not possess one-tenth the 
mechanical skill and knowledge required to perform 
this work, and yet Mr. Church undertakes to humbug 
the public into believing that these men are superior 
for this job. 

He also says practically the same thing about work 
on air brakes and valves, and his position in this regard 
is just as absurd as on the subject of the locomotive. 
As before stated, Mr. Church has never had any- 
thing to do in the practical line, being simply an office 
man ; and yet he has the impertinence practically to go 
out lecturing and advising as to the advantages of a 
technical education. What the Pennsylvania Road 
should do is to put a collar around his neck and chain 
him to a desk. 



234 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

Incompetent Advisors. 

This is simply another specimen of the people who 
do not know anything about the subject going before 
the public and advising young men to spend five or ten 
thousand dollars and eight of the best years of their 
lives to get an education, when they have not a particle 
of evidence on which to base their judgment. 

In an article that appeared in one of the magazines 
a statement was made that the young man, upon com- 
pleting this four years' apprenticeship course of the 
Pennsylvania, " is at once assigned to important work." 

In order to get further information on this subject, 
I wrote to the Pennsylvania Road and asked it to give 
me a list of the important positions that it considers 
these young men capable of filling upon completing this 
four-years' course. In response I received a long letter 
from the fifth vice-president, Mr. W. W. Atterbury. 

From Mr. Atterbury's letter it appears that these 
young men, upon completing their apprenticeship 
course, are generally appointed first as inspectors and 
assigned to some shop or mechanical road official. 

Next, they are appointed to the position of assistant 
roundhouse foreman or assistant master mechanic. 

Next, general foreman of a small shop. 

Next, to the position of master mechanic of one of 
the smaller shops, gradually being shifted to the more 
important shops. 

Next, to the position of superintendent of motive 
power. 

Insufficient Training. 

Now let us see how this training has qualified these 
young men for these various positions. As to the first 
appointment, that of inspector, they simply have had 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 235 

four years in the shop as already referred to, and as 
only a small part of the great variety of material 
required by the company is used in these departments, 
they would have but little opportunity to acquire a 
knowledge of these materials and would know abso- 
lutely nothing about the enormous variety of materials 
that this road is continually buying. To acquire a 
thorough knowledge of all this work would be a long 
and laborious undertaking, requiring years. 

With regard to the position of assistant round- 
house foreman, the young men's experience has given 
them but the merest trifling qualifications for this work. 
The chief thing required of a roundhouse foreman is 
to know how to make the small repairs that can be 
attended to there and also to know when an engine is 
fit to go out on the road, or when it is so badly out of 
order that it ought to be sent to the repair-shop for 
thorough overhauling. 

It, of course, is a serious mistake to send a loco- 
motive to the repair-shop for this purpose, as I should 
guess it would probably cost a thousand dollars to 
overhaul it. It will be seen that if an engine is sent 
twice to be overhauled, when once would answer the 
purpose fairly well, this would mean a thousand dollars 
thrown away. 

Requirements for Roundhouse. 

To determine just when this trip to the repair-shop 
should be made requires a large amount of experience 
as an engineer, and also as a machinist. 

Men in this position also should be able to judge of 
the eflficiency and competency of the running engineers 
from the condition in which they bring in their engines 
from their various runs. To do this accurately and 



236 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

fairly requires an amount of experience in actual 
operation that never could be secured in three months 
of firing on a locomotive. 

The nearest these young men come to getting any 
education along this line is during fifteen months they 
spend in machine work and the three months they have 
in firing on a locomotive, which is but a small amount 
of experience. 

I venture the opinion that there is not one man 
doing repairs under such a foreman who doesn't know 
ten times as much about the work as his boss. This 
is reversing the order on which every one else does 
business ; that is, the foreman usually is selected be- 
cause he knows more than the men under him, and 
because of his common sense and ability to handle men. 

With regard to the other positions that he may 
be given afterward, such as assistant master mechanic, 
general foreman of a small shop, master mechanic of 
various shops, and superintendent of motive power, 
the young man has simply had about fifteen months in 
the machine-shop directly to qualify him for these 
positions and in addition has had a little more than 
two years in clerical work and various other lines 
that have a slight bearing on the subject, making four 
years altogether. 

Qualifications Not Common. 

The fact of the matter is, that the young man has 
not the necessary amount of experience, and without 
this he is worth nothing in these lines. Then, in addi- 
tion to experience, he should have a large amount of 
good common sense and also know how to handle men, 
quaUfications that are rare. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 237 

There is not one in a hundred among these men 
who has the tact and other quaHfications necessary to 
fit him for this business, even if he had the mechanical 
skill. 

I do not hesitate, therefore, to denounce the whole 
scheme of the Pennsylvania Road as utterly stupid and 
unbusinesslike. If a person manufacturing something 
to sell on the market conducted his business in that 
way he would find himself bankrupt in no time. 

Mr. Atterbury specifies a number of positions in 
which these technical-college men are used and, of 
course, for these different positions much different 
kind of training is required. For some of these posi- 
tions a thorough training in the repair-shop would be 
all that is necessary. 

The Only One to Judge. 

But when it comes to the larger places, contain- 
ing blacksmith-shops, pattern-shops, foundries, boiler- 
shops, etc., the man to take charge of such a place 
must have some training in all the different branches 
there. A person who has not obtained, by experience, 
the knowledge of how a thing is made can not be in a 
position to judge whether the work has been done to 
advantage or not. 

The only way to fit young men for such positions 
is that which I have already laid down in one of my 
previous articles, and, as it applies equally well to the 
railroad business, I quote from it as follows : 

I maintain that what is necessary for men to have to 
be successful in manvifacturing is a thorough knowledge 
of the art, of the kind of machines best adapted to cer- 
tain purposes, and of how much the machines are capable 
of producing. These prime essentials are not found in a 



238 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

course of technology, but in long experience and close 
observation in the business, and in a thoroughly up-to- 
date factory. 

The man to be at the head of the motive power 
department has to be made in the same way that I have 
mentioned in my article regarding the General Electric 
Company. That is, in preparing material for this 
position, selection should be made from the brighter 
class of boys who have shown decided merit and who 
have been brought in to learn the machine business. 

Making the Best Men. 

Young men thus chosen should spend four years in 
the locomotive repair-shop and machine-shop, then be 
given one year in the foundry, a year in the blacksmith- 
shop, a year in the boiler-shop, and a year running a 
locomotive. This would make eight years in all, or the 
same length of time that the college boy spends in high 
school and college. 

After such a practical course the company would 
have material from which to select a man of great 
ability, who not only would have a thorough knowl- 
edge of everything connected with the department, but 
would have been selected because he had brains. 
Besides, while learning the business this man would 
have been earning something. 

On the other hand, admitting that the college man 
in time could acquire the mechanical knowledge and 
experience above mentioned (which, of course, he 
never would), there is no evidence that he would have 
the brains necessary to fill this position. 

The great thing in the management of a railroad, 
or any other important business, is to find for a man- 
ager of each division of the road a man who not only 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 239 

knows every feature of the business in his department, 
but who has coupled with this thoroughly good com- 
mon sense ; and then depend upon him to look after 
the education and training of the men in his depart- 
ment. 

Making Good Help. 

The success of any large and complicated business 
depends almost wholly upon it making its own help, 
and the men at the head of each important part of the 
business should be continually looking out to have the 
right kind of help coming along, so that the company 
never will be embarrassed for the want of good men. 

This is the most important work any superintend- 
ent of any division of a railroad can be concerned in, 
and I would not consider any man a success in any 
position who does not surround himself with thor- 
oughly good help, so that his division may run equally 
well if anything should happen to him. 

A railroad company can not spend money in any 
better way than by taking the right kind of men and 
shifting them around, as I have outlined, where they 
can get experience that will enable them to fill higher 
positions. 

In regard to the other two divisions which Mr. 
Atterbury mentions — that is, maintenance of way and 
conducting transportation — I do not think it is neces- 
sary to pursue this matter further, as what I have said 
about the motive power division applies equally well 
to them. 

Something has been said in some of the newspaper 
articles with regard to the loyalty of the employees of 
the Pennsylvania Railroad growing out of the fact that 
this company makes its own help. 



240 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

How TO Encourage Loyalty. 

It seems to me there is a chance for a difference of 
opinion as to whether the company's method can be 
called a complete arrangement for making its help. 
I can not see that bringing a college man into a job 
where there are a dozen men around him in the shop 
who can fill the place better than he, is going to pro- 
mote loyalty. I should think that just the contrary 
would be the case and that not only would this not 
promote loyalty, but that it would breed contempt 
among the men toward the management, for the men 
can see these blunders. 

Nor is this what people generally understand as 
making your own help. As a matter of fact, the 
Pennsylvania people appear to think that the colleges 
are making the help for them to a considerable extent. 
In other words, there are two ways of making your 
own help — one being to take men and the other to 
take boys. 

A decided disadvantage that a college-educated 
man has in going into the shops, as one writer has 
said : " The man who has gone through the shop from 
the bottom up knows the strength and weakness of the 
toilers therein. Their inner lives are to him like an 
open book ; but the man who comes in from the top 
mixes with an uncongenial element which is never 
properly understood. This want of fellow-feeHng is a 
source of weakness in the management of men, and is 
as hurtful to success in business as is the absence of 
human sympathy. It does not pay to have a man in 
charge who regards workmen as mere machines, and 
the man who has shared their difficulties, their 
triumphs and their pleasures is likely to manage them 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 241 

better than the man who has not been in real touch 
with them." 

What a Foreman Must Be. 

In many kinds of work which workmen are called 
upon to do there is an opportunity to perform only half 
a day's work without the employer being aware of it, 
and this certainly is apt to be the case where the fore- 
man is not in sympathy with his men. In other words, 
to get the best results out of the men they must be 
under a man who is in sympathy with them and treats 
them fairly and in a manly way. 

The railroad is particularly subject to the abuse I 
mention, because there is hardly a department in which 
the foreman or superintendent can determine what a 
day's Avork is or insist on getting it. They must 
depend upon the good-will, honesty and faithfulness of 
their workmen. 

To maintain loyalty in the railroad business, as in 
any other business, it is necessary for those occupying 
important positions to know that the person at the 
head of the organization has a systematic method of 
arriving at the merit of every important employee, 
that he has a record of them in his office, and that they 
will not be overlooked when the time comes for mak- 
ing promotions. Also, that neither a college man, nor 
any other man, is going lo be brought in to take away 
their natural rights. 

No Science in Railroading. 

As I understand it, the Pennsylvania Company does 
not use college men in its traffic or accounting depart- 
ments, which would appear to me to be inconsistent. 
If the college man has any merit at all, he naturally 

16 



242 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

would be of the greatest value in what might be called 
the strictly business part of the railroad. It seems to 
me that here is where he would fit in best. 

These people appear to go on the theory that there 
is some science connected with the motive power 
department of their road, and for this reason the col- 
lege man has an advantage for this work. This is 
perfectly ridiculous, as there is not a particle of science 
about it. It is nothing but straightforward mechanical 
work. 

I noticed some time ago, also in The Yale News, 
an article by Mr. Thomas DeWitt Cuyler, a director 
of the Pennsylvania Company, in which he seems to 
overflow with enthusiasm on the importance of college 
education for railroad men. 

In order to ascertain what experience he has had to 
qualify him for the grounds taken by him in these 
extravagant assertions, I wrote him a letter similar to 
the one sent to Mr. Church, but thus far he has not 
seen fit to reply, although I asked one of the vice- 
presidents of this road to urge him to do so. I do not 
doubt, however, that if he had answered my letter he 
would have made just as poor a showing as Mr. 
Church. 

Facts Against Fancy. 

To cap the climax, an article in one of the news- 
papers recently stated that out of i6o of the principal 
officials of the Pennsylvania Road, 150 started at the 
bottom of the ladder, coming from such positions as 
rodmen, telegraph operators, station agents, clerks, 
etc. 

Mr. John Edgar Thomson, Mr. Thomas A. Scott 
and Mr. George B. Roberts have been presidents of 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 243 

the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, serving in that 
capacity respectively for 22, 6, and 17 years. Mr. 
Thomson and Mr. Scott had no technical-school educa- 
tion; Mr. Roberts, who was president for seventeen 
years, was a technical-school graduate. 

Thus for twenty-eight out of the forty-five years 
that these men controlled the affairs of this company, 
the colleges can claim no credit for any part of their 
success. 

And I have it on the highest authority that the two 
first named were looked upon as men of very great 
ability, playing a large part, in different ways, in the 
development of the Pennsylvania Railroad system. 

It would seem from the foregoing that the Penn- 
sylvania lines have been managed by about ten per cent 
of technical-school men, and ninety per cent of non- 
technical-school men who grew up in the business. 
Doubtless, this accounts for the company's success. 

In summing up this matter, it is surprising that the 
Pennsylvania people are so confident that they can not 
get a good man for their road unless he has a college 
education, in view of the fact that they stand almost 
alone on this subject, and also that this country has 
produced many of the strongest and most thorough- 
going men in the railroad line who ever lived, nearly 
all of whom had not a college education and in many 
cases but a small amount of general education. 

Among these we find such men as Van Horn, 
O'Shaughnessy, Hughitt, Harriman, Huntington, Hill, 
Ripley, Winchell, Harris, Earling, and dozens of 
others that might be named. 

Some of these, notably Mr. Hill, Mr. Harriman 
and Mr. Huntington, also were without any railroad 
training when they went into this line of business, and 



244 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

never had made a conspicuous success in the Hne of 
business they had followed previously. 

If such men can start in at middle life, without 
previous experience, and pick up the railroad business 
and make a success of it, surely it can not be an intri- 
cate business ; and I can not understand why any one 
should claim that a man to be successful in it must 
have a college education. 

A Practical Suggestion, 

The following is taken from the second edition of 
Part One of this book. It applies especially to such 
conditions as I have mentioned in connection with the 
Pennsylvania Railroad Company : 

A number of years ago there lived in Chicago 
Mr. Allen C. Lewis, who, from what he had seen 
of manual training and technical schools during his 
travels abroad, had formed the opinion that these 
institutions possessed some merit, and he therefore 
decided to leave his large fortune for the establishment 
of a school of some such general character. It was 
found, upon his death, that he had left to trustees in 
Chicago a sum which was to be used for that purpose 
when it had accumulated to a certain figure. 

When that time arrived, the trustees, not feeling 
certain what would be the best kind of a school, and 
wishing to make no mistake in a matter of such impor- 
tance, invited a large number of prominent men in that 
city to a dinner for the purpose of discussing the sub- 
ject. Some time after that meeting it occurred to me 
that it might be a good idea to establish a school for 
the training of men for railroad work, and I spoke of 
it to several prominent railroad men ; but, although 
they talked as though they thought it might be a good 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 245 

thing, no enthusiasm whatever was shown about it. I 
even wrote to the trustees and suggested the estabHsh- 
ment of such a school, but the idea was not adopted. 
Now, in view of the high opinion which many 
railroad men seem to hold concerning a college edu- 
cation (as shown by their answers to my inquiry, and 
by their letters referred to by President Thwing, of 
Adelbert College, in his articles which appeared in 
several publications a few years ago), does it not seem 
strange that it has never occurred to any of them to 
establish such a school as I have just mentioned, or 
even to suggest such a course to some of the colleges ?* 
This is especially remarkable, when it must have come 
to their notice that many of our schools and colleges 
have discovered that the kind of education they have 
been offering in the past has not been along sufficiently 
practical lines, and are now anxiously looking for sug- 
gestions that will make their course of study more 
practical. 

Letters from President Thwing. 

As a glaring example of the wholesale deception 
that has developed in connection with my investigation 
of this subject, I will refer again to the correspondence 
that I had some years ago with Charles F. Thwing, 
president of Adelbert College, Cleveland. 

In several articles published by him he mentioned 
the fact that he had corresponded with the heads of a 
hundred prominent railroads in this country with 
regard to the value of college education for young 
men who enter the railway business. As he claimed 



* Since this was written I understand several universi- 
ties — notably that of Illinois — have added courses in rail- 
roading. 



246 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

that " the general and strong tone of all the answers 
was that the boy should be educated, and that the col- 
lege represented the fitting means, methods and con- 
dition for giving him an education," I wrote him sev- 
eral times, asking whether he could give me the names 
of a few that he was certain were acting upon that 
theory in their business. 

All the information I was able to secure from 
him is a letter in which he mentions the names of four 
railroad presidents who he thinks are honest in this 
matter, but he says he may be mistaken about even 
these, as he could not find their letters. There is no 
doubt in my mind that, if President Thwing had inves- 
tigated this matter more thoroughly, he would have 
found that not one among the entire one hundred rail- 
road managers with whom he corresponded actually 
gave any preference whatever to men who had received 
a collesre education. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
CARNEGIE AND TECHNICAL SCHOOLS. 

At this point I can imagine some one asking : Why 
do such men as Carnegie put milHons into techno- 
logical schools when their own millions come chiefly 
through the aid of nontechnical-school but practical 
men? 

By the way, I feel that I must point out here what 
I consider the glaring inconsistency between what Mr. 
Carnegie says and what he does, because so many look 
upon him as a wise man, and as having had such a 
wide practical experience in mechanics that his opin- 
ions carry considerable weight. 

I quote briefly from his book, " The Empire of 
Business," published no longer than seven years ago. 
In the chapter on " How to Win Fortune," after giv- 
ing a long list of the best known industrial estab- 
lishments in several lines in this country, Mr. Carnegie 
says: 

Every one of these great works was founded and man- 
aged by mechanics — men who served their apprentice- 
ship. The list could be greatly extended, and if we were 
to include those which were credited as men who entered 
life as office boys or clerks, we should embrace almost 
every famous manufacturing concern in the country. 

Further on, in considering successes in mercantile, 
commercial and financial enterprises, Mr. Carnegie 
makes this significant comment : 



248 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

The absence of the college graduate in this list should 
be deeply weighed. I have inquired and searched every- 
where in all quarters, but find small trace of him as a 
leader in affairs. 

And a few lines farther : 

But the almost total absence of the graduate from 
high positions in the business world seems to justify the 
conclusion that college education as it now exists seems 
almost fatal to success in that domain. 

Those Who Win. 

Turn a page or two and we find the assertion : 

It is the poor clerk and the working mechanic who 
finally rule in every branch of affairs, without capital, 
without family influence, and without college education. 

Now, after all these illustrations, based on his own 
experience and observation, in favor of the practical 
man against the technical man, or college graduate, 
Mr. Carnegie enters the field of pure speculation, and 
says that technically trained men are open-minded and 
free from prejudice. 

He has nothing whatever upon which to base his 
assertion. He simply goes into this to add to his 
glory and founds a $12,000,000 technological institu- 
tion. 

If he had taken that $12,000,000 and added another 
$12,000,000 to it, and dumped the whole amount into 
the ocean, this country would be better ofif. 

Mr. Carnegie has argued that it is a good thing 
that he should have so much money, because he can 
use it for the benefit of the public. Is it benefiting 
the public to put $12,000,000 into his technological 
institute, to turn out a class of young men destined, 
according to his own unequivocal assertion, to be dis- 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 249 

tanced in the business race by " the poor clerk and 
the working mechanic"? 

I leave it to the reader if Mr. Carnegie has taken 
the course a sound business man would follow. If I 
had the naming of his institute I should call it, " Car- 
negie's Twelve-million Dollar Blunder." 

It will be seen, as Mr. Carnegie says, that there 
were no technically educated men when he started in 
business, and he does not claim to have had any since. 
He was not man enough to come out and say so in his 
answer. 

Not only this, but he himself states that it is the 
mechanic who has done everything in promoting manu- 
facturing in this country, and the college man has not 
even been a success in business. After putting him- 
self on record this way, I can not understand why Mr. 
Carnegie should all at once go over to the other side. 

A Letter from Andrew Carnegie. 

When I was preparing to write the foregoing I 
addressed a letter to Mr. Carnegie, telling him of my 
purpose and asking him to answer the following 
specific questions : 

1. Do you owe your success in business to any con- 
siderable extent to technically educated mechanics in your 
employ ? 

2. If so, what proportion is due to this class of men 
in your employ and what proportion to mechanics who 
were not technically educated? 

3. If you do not owe any of your success to techni- 
cally educated men, why do you establish a college to 
educate such men? 

4. In your experience, aside from your own business, 
have you observed that technically educated men are more 
successful than those who are not so educated? 



250 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

In answer I received the following letter: 

New York, December 20, 1907. 

My Dear Mr. Crane, — I have little time to devote to 
the defense of technical education. I do not think it 
needs any. It is speaking for itself and will speak for 
itself, and even you will be satisfied by-and-by that we 
are on the right path. 

You ask me four questions : To the first I answer that 
when I started business I did not know of one technically 
educated mechanic, but several families in Pittsburg 
were sending their young men to Troy and especially to 
Boston. One of them happened to be a relative and he 
has made a great success, and is a partner now in one of 
the leading firms for special steels. I do not believe he 
would have achieved this so rapidly if it had not been for 
his superior education. If I were in business to-day, the 
young man I should take into my service would be the 
most highly educated mechanic. 

This answers all your four questions and I should like 
to ask you one question in return. The apprenticeship 
system is a thing of the past ; what do you propose as a 
substitute? The best one and the one better than the 
original is to give instructions to young men in technical 
schools. I asked two high authorities how they would 
answer your questions and beg to enclose their replies, 
which please return. 

Hoping all of this will be of use to you and with kind 
greetings of the season, I am, 

Always your friend, 

Andrew Carnegie. 

It will be seen that Mr. Carnegie does not answer 
my questions. He refers to the first one, but in no 
adequate sense does he give it an answer, and he 
ignores the other three entirely. 

There were no technically educated mechanics when 
he started in business, but he knows of one young man 
who received some technical education and afterward 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 251 

achieved success in the steel business. Surely one 
success is not enough to warrant his present position 
on technical education. 

And I leave it to the reader if Mr. Carnegie has 
made out a case for himself or has treated this most 
important matter as it deserves. 

I may add that while Mr. Carnegie has not 
answered my questions, one of the directors of the 
Carnegie Technical Schools, who appears to know 
more about Mr. Carnegie's affairs than he does him- 
self, has made the broad claim that practically all the 
success that has come to Mr, Carnegie has been due to 
technical education. 

Withholding Credit When Due. 

It is clear from the foregoing letter that Mr. Car- 
negie is withholding the credit he knows to be due to 
the practical mechanic as a main factor in his own 
success, and that he adds insult to injury in this par- 
ticular by permitting Director Hamerschlag, of the 
Carnegie Technical Schools, to make for those schools 
and similar institutions such sweeping claims. Mr. 
Carnegie must know that it is absolutely false that 
his own success in business has been due in any degree 
to the influence of formal technical education. 

Thus upon injustice to the practical man and false 
theories as to the treatment of this subject, Mr. Car- 
negie lays the foundation for justifying his support 
of technical education. He, in fact, misleads the pub- 
lic, and his course can not fail to do more harm than 
good. 

Mr. Carnegie, instead of answering my questions 
himself, as stated above, has Mr. Hamerschlag, a 
director of the Carnegie Technical School, do so. 



252 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

The shop-trained man performs his work within the 
radius of his arm; the technically trained man, within 
the radius of his brain; therefore, technical training of 
an individual makes him valuable in direct proportion as 
his education is manifested by results. 

I asked Mr. Carnegie : " Do you owe your success 
in business to any considerable extent to technically 
educated mechanics? " [Meaning, of course, mechan- 
ics graduated from technical schools.] 

Mr. Hamerschlag answers for Mr. Carnegie: 
" Yes, because you [Carnegie] adopted economic 
processes of manufacturing and labor-saving machines, 
both of which require trained minds as well as trained 
hands to perfect and operate." 

This infers that Mr. Carnegie had men trained in 
technical schools for this purpose, which is not true. 

Mr. Hamerschlag does not answer this question at 
all in line with the position I clearly stated. I may 
admit all that he says without in the slightest depart- 
ing from my own position. 

He uses the term " trained minds " with the evi- 
dent purpose of giving the impression that the train- 
ing was done in the schools — although elsewhere in 
his letter he admits that such mental training can be 
obtained in the shops. He knows that in the case of 
Mr. Carnegie the training of both the minds and the 
hands was done in the shops. 

A Lack of Frankness. 

Knowing what I meant by " technically educated 
mechanics," his answer should have been frankly to 
the effect that Mr. Carnegie does not owe his success 
to technical training — as given in the schools — but 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 253 

to the men trained, in both mind and hand, in the 
shops. 

This answer would have been the truth, and would 
have avoided misunderstanding and confusion. 

As a matter of fact, Director Hamerschlag has 
strengthened my position by admitting, practically, that 
the shops give both the mental and the manual train- 
ing necessary to bring noteworthy mechanical success. 

The more I reflect on this matter, the more am I 
convinced that Mr. Carnegie made a grave blunder in 
not answering my questions himself, from his own 
knowledge and experience, honestly giving credit 
where it belongs — not to the technical graduate, but 
to the practical, shop-trained mechanic. 

In closing his letter Mr. Hamerschlag says : " The 
persistent demand from manufacturers and employ- 
ers for the graduates of technical and trade schools 
is marked evidence of the value they place upon the 
product of these institutions." 

Then let us hear from these manufacturers and 
employers. Let the heads of such industrial institu- 
tions as the Baldwin Locomotive Works, the United 
States Steel Corporation, the National Tube Company, 
the Cambria Iron Works, the Jones & Laughlin Com- 
pany, Pratt & Whitney, Brown & Sharpe, Starrett, 
etc. — who have had enough experience with technical 
graduates to justify them in drawing conclusions — 
tell us what has been their experience with technically 
trained mechanics. Let such men as Mr. Edward 
Reynolds, formerly at the head of the Allis Works, 
Milwaukee, testify as to the practical value of the 
technical graduate in the mechanical department of 
the industrial field. 

If such men as these will say that they have found 



254 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

the technically trained mechanic — I mean the me- 
chanic who has taken a course in a technical school 
— to be superior to the practically trained mechanic — 
that is, the mechanic hand and mind trained in the 
shops — then, and then only, will we have testimony 
against my position that is worth listening to. 

Foundation of the Matter. 

Let us get right down to the foundation of the 
whole matter. Some of these technical schools have 
been in operation long enough to show results — that 
is, to demonstrate whether the boys they turn out make 
better or more successful mechanics than those trained 
entirely in the shops. 

If these schools think they can give a good account 
of themselves in this particular, let them do so. Let 
them show where technically educated men have built 
up good, solid, competitive businesses of their own, 
or where they have entered into established businesses 
and materially helped them — that is, where the tech- 
nical graduate has done as well as, or better than, the 
shop-trained mechanic. 

This matter of education, in all lines, it seems to 
me, is promoted by impractical and inexperienced per- 
sons, who know little or nothing about the material 
needs of the people. 

For example : Mr. Carnegie does not know — for 
he had no experience with them — that the technical 
man has any merit, but he does know — as his own 
millions constantly tell him — that the practical man 
has merit; yet he says in his haste that the technical 
school must be a good thing. 

I do not know of a sound, practical manufacturer 
anywhere who favors these schools. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 255 

I challenge any technical graduate to mention any 
idea that he got in his school that he has found he 
could apply to advantage in the factory. 

I do not know of a good, successful, substantial 
manufacturer who contributes toward the support of 
technical schools. 

Those who do support and seem to favor them 
are simply men of theories. 

After looking over all that has been said both for 
and against the position taken in my paper, I am more 
than ever convinced of the soundness of my conclu- 
sions, that Mr. Carnegie, and all who are so ardently 
supporting and favoring technical education, are 
deceiving the public. 

Mr. Carnegie must know that every manufacturer 
is compelled by competition to look sharp to see that 
he has the most up-to-date managers and workmen, 
and every improved tool and device in his shops. He 
must be thoroughly wide-awake in every respect or he 
will be doomed to destruction by competition. 

If the technical graduate is so essentially the man- 
ufacturing success to-day as Mr. Carnegie would have 
us believe he is, why do we not find manufacturers, 
alive on every other business point, offering unusual 
inducements to the technically trained young men and 
telling us how superior they are to the practical, shop- 
trained mechanics? 

The answer is simple: The manufacturer is not 
a theorist. He demands results, and he employs the 
sort of men that can give them. 

One Serious Blunder. 

From the significant absence of reputable manu- 
facturers who are raising their voices or taking up 



256 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

their pens in advocacy of technical education, I am 
led to conclude that Mr. Carnegie made a serious 
blunder when he failed to specify that one of the 
conditions of his foundation should be the education 
of manufacturers in the use of technically educated 
men. 

With the evidence to my mind so clearly against 
the wisdom of the boy spending his time and his money 
in getting loaded with mechanical theories that are of 
no use to him, I can not conclude otherwise than that 
Mr. Carnegie has put his $12,000,000 to an improper 
use, because through this move he presents a glittering 
temptation to the boys of this land to invest money 
and still more valuable time in an educational scheme 
that neither Mr. Carnegie nor any one else really 
believes in. 

As a matter of fact, Mr. Carnegie's chief idea in 
establishing his schools was to immortalize the name 
of *' Carnegie," and, in order thus to perpetuate his 
name, he calls upon thousands of the youths of this 
country to sacrifice eight of the best years of their 
lives and considerable money in acquiring an educa- 
tion which, even when he established his schools, 
Mr. Carnegie himself roundly and deliberately con- 
demned. 

I say to the boys of this country : Don't be misled 
by the statement of Mr. Carnegie's that if he were in 
business to-day he would employ only the best edu- 
cated mechanics. 

The fact is, he would have none of these. He 
would go about his business just as he did when he 
was in business, for the money he could get out of 
it. And for this simple reason he would give the 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 257 

preference now, as he did then, to the practical, shop- 
trained mechanic; he would not experiment with men 
he knew nothing about. This statement is only one of 
Mr. Carnegie's plays to the gallery. 



17 



CHAPTER IX. 

MANUAL TRAINING IN OUR PUBLIC 
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS. 

No exception is likely to be taken to the general 
assertion that the fundamental purpose of education is : 

(i) To make good citizens. 

(2) To make them self-supporting. 

As the great bulk of our boys and girls get all of 
their formal education in the grammar grades, it fol- 
lows that here should be concentrated our most earnest 
efforts toward realizing the fundamental purposes of 
all school training. 

For this reason I am a strong advocate of manual 
training in the grade divisions of the public schools, 
and do not see much sense in making manual train- 
ing a feature of our high schools — so long, at least, 
as there is room for improvement in this direction in 
the lower grades. 

Good citizenship necessarily includes self-support, 
and self-support is the readiest path to happiness. I 
think I am safe in saying that the mechanic and the 
inventor have played a larger share than any other 
class in giving the world those things that tend toward 
the advancement of civilization and the production of 
comfort and happiness. 

It also is worthy of note that the vast majority of 
our mechanics and inventors have gone, and still are 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 259 

going, into the actual battle of life direct from the 
grades of our grammar schools. 

Real Captains of Industry. 

It has been said that man without tools is a " poor, 
bare, forked animal " ; or, as Carlyle puts it, " With- 
out tools he is nothing ; with tools he is all." The 
real captains of industry are found among the 
mechanics and inventors. Invention has cheapened 
everything. The inventor and the mechanic made 
England the industrial marvel of the last century ; 
they are making America the industrial marvel of this 
century. Therefore, to the turning out of skilful 
mechanics — which include most of our inventors — 
we should devote our best energies and our highest 
intelligence. 

Owing to marked changes in our industrial field — 
the systematizing and classifying of labor, specializing, 
and the rapid introduction and growth of labor-saving 
machinery — it is no longer as practical as formerly 
for the manufacturer to undertake the preliminary 
training of boys in mechanical lines. But it is essen- 
tial to the welfare of the country that our boys be so 
trained, and this training is a proper function of our 
public schools. 

Granted, then, that pupils in the grammar grades 
should receive manual training, it must follow that 
this feature should be managed in a thoroughly busi- 
nesslike manner, that it should be kept free from the 
evils of impractical or purely theoretical direction. 

I am strongly of the opinion that at present all the 
money a city or a community can afford to spend on 
manual training should be devoted to the carrying 
out of this work in the grammar schools ; for while 



260 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

manual training may be of some value to high-school 
pupils, I maintain that it is not from such that we 
will get our supply of mechanics, but that the founda- 
tion for the making of mechanics and inventors is in 
teaching practical mechanics to the boys in the gram- 
mar grades ; for they, naturally, are the ones who 
will get into mechanical lines after leaving school. 

What is needed with us is training in the lower 
school grades that will tend to make better general 
mechanics, that is, men who have more practical 
than theoretical knowledge. The country is very well 
supplied with the latter class of labor. 

Wide Field for the All-around Mechanic. 

There is a wide field for the all-around mechanic. 
Industrial supervision constantly invites him. And 
the boy who goes from the grammar school to the 
industrial field with a good general knowledge of the 
elements of practical mechanics, gained through intel- 
ligently directed manual training, is the best equipped 
for advancement to the higher positions. 

As to the cost of manual training: Should the 
public be taxed for this feature of public educational 
work? Why not? If it is proper to furnish free 
instruction above the grammar grades in art, in music, 
in a dozen other lines commonly called " fads," surely 
there can be no question as to the wisdom and justice 
of free and general instruction in manual training in 
the grammar grades ; for such training must be in the 
line of public economy, as well as highly beneficial to 
the children ; it tends to increase the prosperity of the 
whole country and to add to the sum of human hap- 
piness. 

What I have said about manual training for boys 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 261 

applies equally to girls. It is just as essential to train 
girls that they may be good homemakers and home- 
keepers as it is to train boys that they may support 
both themselves and their homes. 

To sum up: Manual training should be a feature 
of every public grammar school. A generous part 
of every school day should be devoted to practical 
instruction in this line. Boys as well as girls should 
share in it. It should be supported liberally by public 
taxation. Common sense should be the chief element 
in its direction. 

Manual training makes skilful hands. It is the 
rational cure for truancy. And if it were more lib- 
erally given in the public grammar schools, the need 
for truant and reform schools would be very greatly 
lessened. It gives to the ordinary school studies a 
new and attractive interest. It has a strong influence 
on morals. It is the best investment the public can 
make and will return Hberal dividends both in the 
quality and the quantity of our future citizenship. 

Manual Training, Distinct from Work in Gram- 
mar Grades, is Cousin to Technical Courses. 

The manual-training school, as a distinct institu- 
tion, is cousin to the technical college, and should be 
criticized and condemned proportionately with it. That 
is, the separate and distinct manual-training school 
harms the boy for four years, while the technical 
school adds four years more. 

I consider the manual-training school, detached 
from elementary education, the most injurious of any 
schools we have, from the fact that many are led to 
believe that because this school gives manual training 
it is going to result in producing an improved body of 



262 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

workmen. It seems so easy to deceive people this way, 
even intelligent people, because the average person not 
only lacks practical experience, but does not take the 
trouble to give the subject proper consideration. 

To make myself clear, I shall give a little history 
of my connection with the first eifort to establish a 
manual-training school in Chicago. 

One Chicago Experiment. 

About twenty years ago the Chicago Commercial 
Club got the idea that it wished to do something 
besides eat dinners and talk, and thought it would 
strike out on something in a practical line. So it had 
the subject of manual-training schools up at one of its 
dinners, at which Professor Woodward, of St. Louis — 
a great star, by the way — painted such a glowing 
word-picture of the importance of manual-training 
schools that the club was captured completely by him. 
As a result, a committee, of which I was a member, 
was chosen to go to St. Louis to visit the professor's 
school, and to determine whether we thought it would 
be advisable to establish such a school in Chicago. 

On visiting the school, I was satisfied at once that 
it was nothing but a show institution, and not com- 
petent to promote mechanics, and I so told my fellow 
member of the committee. But he became most 
enthusiastic over the subject, and on our return made 
one of his brilliant speeches before the club. As he 
was one of those entirely impractical men, but pos- 
sessed a lot of what is called " education and culture," 
he carried the club with him. 

My opinions, expressed naturally in a simple, mod- 
est way, were without apparent efifect. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 263 

Given a Fair Trial. 

As a result, the club went into the manual-training 
school scheme, and I was put on the committee to look 
after the project. I gave it good, honest attention, and 
did a lot of work for a number of years to get the 
school started right. 

I was determined to give the school a fair test ; so 
from the first batch of boys that it graduated I took a 
boy — who was poor, and therefore the most promis- 
ing — to see what I could do with him in the factory. 

I placed him at work in different departments for 
different periods, in order that he might get what may 
be called an all-around mechanical education. I kept 
him in the shops for several years at an expense of 
about $2,000; but finally his head became so swelled 
that I could do nothing with him, and I had to let 
him go. 

From the next batch of graduates I selected two, 
and told them to get overalls and overshirts and come 
to the shop on Monday morning, and I would see that 
they got started to work. 

I was there according to appointment, but was 
told that the lads had been there, but had gone, and I 
never saw them again. 

My impression is, that these boys did not like the 
looks of the shop — that it did not meet their expecta- 
tions or accord with their tastes regarding work, so 
they cleared out. 

Boys Spoiled, not Helped. 

Now, this is exactly what I expected would be the 

case when I was looking over the St. Louis school. 

Instead of helping to make mechanics, it spoiled the 

boys for mechanical pursuits. Having found the Chi- 



264 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

cago school also wanting, I immediately withdrew 
from any further interest in it. I considered it a great 
humbug, and the older I get the more am I convinced 
that my estimate was right, and that the humbug fea- 
ture of such institutions has not grown less. 

Education for Business. 

My idea generally in connection with this subject is, 
that when we put boys through the common grammar 
schools, giving them manual training throughout the 
grades with their regular studies, we are giving them 
on the educational side what is absolutely required for 
ordinary pursuits of livelihood, and to make them good 
and useful citizens. I believe this is all the education 
that is required for ordinary business. 

On the manual-training side in the grammar school, 
the boy may learn a great deal that will be exceedingly 
useful to him in his pursuit of a Hvelihood, whether he 
goes into a mechanical trade or not. He certainly 
should be well equipped to begin the practical pursuits 
of life. Manual training at this time of his life also 
tends to give him a liking and respect for mechanical 
pursuits. 

Practically every one of the successful men of this 
country never had any more education than the gram- 
mar schools impart, and probably a great many of them 
did not get even half as much, with no manual training 
whatever. This makes it perfectly clear to me that a 
grammar-school education is all that is required for 
ordinary business pursuits. And a boy so equipped 
to-day, with such manual training as now is given in 
some of the grammar grades, is even better prepared 
for the battle of life than were the men who made this 
country what it is. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 265 

Weakening the Foundation. 

I contend that when we go beyond this we begin 
to weaken or tear down the foundation we have been 
building in the common grammar school. When we 
offer education higher than this, we practically say to 
the boys : " If you will come to this higher school we 
will qualify you for something better than mechanical 
pursuits and the ordinary drudgery of life," and thus 
teach disrespect for the person who has had nothing 
but a grammar-school education. We lead the boy to 
believe that by going through the high school he will 
be able to make a living much easier and more pleas- 
antly than if he quit at the grammar school. 

The Trade School Unnecessary. 

In a letter written to me, Mr. Andrew Carnegie 
says : " The apprentice system is a thing of the past ; 
what do you propose as a substitute? The best one 
and the one better than the original is to give instruc- 
tions to young men in technical schools." 

I have fully dealt with Mr. Carnegie's proposed 
substitute, that the prime essentials in the making of 
good mechanics are not given in any technological 
course, but by long experience and close observation in 
the practical working of an up-to-date shop or factory. 

Marked Industrial Changes. 

It is true that the older method of making me- 
chanics through iron-clad apprenticeship contracts 
practically has passed in this country. 

Marked changes have occurred in the industrial 
field. Manufacturing has become highly systematized 
and specialized. Consequently the use and application 
of labor are very different from former times. 



266 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

These changes present certain obstacles to the 
making of mechanics, but I do not consider them 
insurmountable ; for they all may be overcome through 
systematic manual training in the grammar grades of 
the common schools. 

Mr. Carnegie and other advocates of technical and 
industrial education claim that the technological course, 
the advanced manual training, and the trade school are 
to do this preliminary training, and that they will pro- 
duce material for the shop as good as, if not better 
than, was produced under the old apprenticeship sys- 
tem. 

No School Can Teach a Trade. 

Here is where Mr. Carnegie and I part company. 
I maintain that no school can teach a trade ; that 
even under present industrial conditions no school 
is needed for the teaching of trades — provided a rea- 
sonable amount of manual training is given throughout 
the grades of the grammar schools. 

The one place to learn a trade is in the shops. The 
best trade school in the world would leave the boy 
with a great deal still to be mastered before he could 
be considered efficient. Then why ask him to waste 
his time in a trade school or technical course ? 

To apply my argument practically, I may mention 
conditions in the Crane Company shops to-day. We 
find that in our business we have no trouble in train- 
ing boys to make mechanics. It should be said, how- 
ever, that we have a slight advantage — but only a 
slight one — over what might be called shops that are 
specializing exclusively. We have boys who knock 
around for some time in the various departments, 
where they can not fail to get some knowledge of gen- 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 267 

eral mechanics, and these boys we have no particular 
difficulty in training into good mechanics. 

How We Train Apprentices. 

We have skilled mechanics, and a supply of appren- 
tices — for they are apprentices in every sense of the 
word — sufficient for all our needs. 

These apprentices are trained in our tool and 
machine shops, where all the work is high-grade ; con- 
sequently we are under as much disadvantage in regard 
to the class of work we are doing as any factory in 
the making of skilled workmen. 

There is a feeling general among Americans that 
they do not like to be bound or placed under unusual 
restraint. This feeHng we respect. Our apprentices 
are not held by formal contract, but by an unwritten 
contract which makes it clear to them that it is good 
policy on their part to be faithful and industrious, to 
be prompt and alert, to take advantage of all the 
opportunities we offer them for acquiring a trade and 
for promotion. The certainty of advancement if they 
deserve it is a stronger incentive to steadiness and 
efficiency than any formal contract could be. Every 
boy works on his merits, and is paid somewhat in 
proportion to the value of his services. 

Boys Generally Stay. 

These boys are free to go if they wish, but the 
fact is, that generally they stay and learn their trades, 
and remain thereafter in the employ of the company. 

So, after all that has been said about the passing 
of the old apprentice system, we have no difficulty in 
making our mechanics. We experience no disadvan- 
tage in producing not only our skilled workmen, but 



268 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

our own assistant foremen, foremen, superintendents, 
etc. Practically all of our responsible help has come 
up from the ranks ; and in many cases has been devel- 
oped from boys who got their trades with us. 

And not only do we supply our own men in this 
way, but plenty of employers on the outside are seek- 
ing mechanics produced in our factories, and many 
who have learned their trades with us have gone out 
in this way and are occupying good positions to-day. 

I am confident that many employers in mechanical 
lines would ten times rather have a Crane-trained man 
than the best man that ever came out of a trade school 
or technical college. 

No Lack of Mechanics. 

As we have accomplished all this without the aid 
even of such manual training in the grammar schools 
as I advocate, and as I firmly believe such manual train- 
ing would supply all that may have been lost in substi- 
tuting modern for old-time shop methods, I can not see 
any difficulty in the way of every manufacturer getting 
all the mechanical help he may need, without the aid of 
trade or technical schools, when manual training is 
made general in the grammar schools. 

Even if it were true that it is difficult to get good 
men under present conditions, there would be no sense 
in going to technical-training schools for help, because 
that would be simply so much worse. This Mr. Car- 
negie would know if he knew anything about manu- 
facturing, but as a matter of fact, he could not be 
expected to have any knowledge of this kind, because 
he knows nothing about manufacturing, and never did. 
I do not know of anything more absurd than for him 
to pose as an authority on matters of this kind. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 269 

Trade Schools Do More Harm Than Good. 

I think the trade school will do more harm than 
good. It is not needed. It takes up the time of the 
boy that should be spent in the shops, and it costs him 
money instead of paying him something for his labor. 

What I offer in place of the old apprentice system 
is something like we are doing in our own factories. 
Give the boys a good grammar-school education, and 
plenty of manual training in the grammar grades. 
Then let them get to work in the shops. Working at 
their trades, and using their spare time wisely, will 
give them all the practical and technical knowledge 
they require for any position and for the solving of any 
problem that the shop may have to offer. 



CHAPTER X. 

AGRICULTURAL SCHOOLING — DO ITS 
RESULTS JUSTIFY ITS EXPENSE? 

There are in the United States to-day some seventy 
agricultural colleges and schools — with their regular, 
short and special courses — enjoying the benefits of 
the general government acts of 1862 and 1890. 

They have an enrollment of more than 60,000 stu- 
dents. The value of the property of these institutions 
is nearly $86,000,000, of which enormous sum $50,- 
500,000 represents material equipment. Their income 
from various sources is about $14,000,000. 

They are supported through grants from the State, 
about fifty-five per cent ; grants from the federal gov- 
ernment, about fifteen per cent, and endowments, gifts, 
fees, etc., about thirty per cent. 

Add to this the expense to the students and their 
loss of time, and it will be seen readily what an im- 
mense expense is connected with this branch of public 
education. 

Reasonable to Ask Proof. 

In view of this great expense, it is neither unrea- 
sonable nor unfair to require of these institutions clear 
proof that they are of benefit to the public, at least 
commensurate with their cost. 

You can not expect the public to take this for 
granted. There is so much being written and said 
about the utility and great importance of these institu- 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 271 

tions that naturally it has occurred to me that they may 
be overestimated and the public deceived. Among the 
boastful claims made for them I cite the remark of the 
Hon. James Bryce, before a graduating class of the 
Agricultural College of Wisconsin, that " here in Wis- 
consin, you have, by the judicious application of science 
to agriculture, practically doubled the output of your 
soil." This may be taken as an example. Almost as 
striking claims have been made by the colleges them- 
selves. 

To a person who has worked on a farm, and had 
a long and extended observation of farming activities, 
such statements seem most absurd. 

Allowance for Exaggeration. 

I make due allowances for the enthusiasm of a 
public speaker, and even for the exaggerations of 
some educators ; and I will not ask our agricultural 
educational agencies to show one hundred per cent of 
benefit to the farming community, or even fifty per 
cent. 

In fact, our farming industry is so immense and 
important that I should consider the cost of our agri- 
cultural education justified if the colleges could show a 
gain of even ten per cent to the country and agriculture 
through their efforts. 

And in going into this inquiry I challenge the col- 
leges and schools to show even this. 

As to the claim that has been made that a full 
course, consisting of four years in high school and 
four years in an agricultural college, is a good invest- 
ment for the farmer, I do not hesitate to declare it 
utterly absurd and not meriting consideration. 



272 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOUNG. 

In a general way these colleges and schools give 
instruction for the benefit of the farmer in agriculture 
and mechanic arts, ( i ) direct to students in full, short, 
and special courses, (2) through bulletins mailed free 
to farmers, and (3) by lectures delivered at Farmers' 
Institutes. They also claim " to prepare teachers, 
investigators, and men who have the ability to extend 
the fields of agricultural knowledge." 

They have run wild on education, and have gone 
into a great variety of higher education having no 
connection whatsoever with agriculture. 

Greatest of Our Industries. 

It is generally recognized that farming is the most 
important of our industries, and that the farmers are 
among the most substantial of our citizens. 

Therefore, anything that gives reasonable promise 
of helping the farmer, of bettering agriculture, readily 
meets with the support of public approval and the 
public purse. 

And it is consistent with this support, and the 
great public expense, that we should hold the agri- 
cultural colleges and schools as stewards of the public 
and demand of them an account of their stewardship. 

Certainly, the people who put their hands into their 
pockets and support these institutions have a right to 
this accounting. The whole community is taxed to 
support them, but there is no reason v/hy it should do 
so if it derives no benefit from them. 

I shall give the results of my investigations, based 
chiefly upon responses to letters of inquiry that I have 
sent out to practical farmers, students, graduates and 
heads of representative agricultural institutions. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 273 

It should be noted that in this investigation I am 
treating the agricultural colleges and the experimental 
stations as one. 

Why Has the Crop Yield Fallen? 

I might have dismissed this whole subject of the 
utility of our agricultural colleges, simply by referring 
to the statistics on farming, which show that the yield 
per acre of farm crops, in all the middle section of the 
country, has fallen largely since the agricultural col- 
leges were started, instead of having increased one 
hundred per cent, as Mr. Bryce said was the case for 
Wisconsin, on the authority of the agricultural college 
men. 

I also might dismiss this whole subject simply by 
saying that every feature of the farming industry was 
thoroughly understood and exhaustively treated in 
books long before agricultural colleges were started, 
and that nothing of importance has been discovered or 
added to this knowledge since. 

Realizing, however, the strong hold these agricul- 
tural colleges seem to have on the public, it is necessary 
to go into this matter at length, to show up, as fully as 
may be, the false and misleading claims made by these 
institutions, and to give the results of my investigation. 

In beginning the investigation, I took what seemed 
to be the natural and most direct way ; I went straight 
to headquarters, in an endeavor to get from the college 
heads some information as to what agricultural col- 
leges are accomplishing in this line, for they certainly 
ought to be in a position to furnish this. 

18 



274 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOUNG. 

College Men Questioned. 

Following is a set of questions I sent to heads of 
Agricultural College, Michigan, and the agricultural 
colleges of the Universities of Illinois and Wisconsin : 

1. In what respect do you find the good farmers de- 
ficient in operating their farms? 

2. Have you ever issued any general instructions to 
farmers, directing them how to run their farms to the best 
advantage? If so, what are they? 

3. Have you ever taken one or more good farms and 
operated them for the purpose of demonstrating what 
they were capable of producing under what might be 
termed scientific and intelligent farming? If so, state 
results obtained, number of farms, names of owners, and 
where located. 

5. (a) Do not such gatherings as State and county 
fairs, and the various periodicals and other literature 
published for the farmer, supply him with all the informa- 
tion necessary to enable him to obtain the best results 
from his farm? 

(b) If not, can not persons situated as you are, fur- 
nish him with the information he lacks without it being 
necessary for him to spend his time and money attending 
an agricultural college? If you believe this to be imprac- 
ticable, please state your reasons. 

6. Have you ever received applications from practical 
farmers for young men from your school to work on their 
farms? If so, please give the names and addresses of 
these farmers. 

[As question 4 relates to another branch of the inquiry, 
it is omitted here.] 

Answers to this inquiry were received from one 
of the faculty of the Wisconsin college (who was 
careful to say that he expressed merely his personal 
opinion), and from the dean and director of the Col- 
lege of Agriculture at the University of Illinois. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 275 

To print their letters in full would occupy too much 
space and I therefore give a synopsis of them as fol- 
lows, showing from their testimony how completely 
they fail in doing any good to the farmer. 

Wisconsin University. — While my correspondent 
claims, in answering the first question, that good 
farmers are deficient in many respects, he answers 
practically " No " to the second question, except such 
instruction as is " contained in the bulletins and reports 
published by experiment stations." The third question 
is also answered in the negative. To question 5 he 
answers, " Yes, if he has the power to absorb and 
digest and the will-power to execute," and admits that 
there is nothing so effective as the example of what 
others are doing. At the same time he claims the 
farmer requires the inspiration that comes from college 
associations, the inference being that this is the only 
thing the farmer needs to go to college for, as he gets 
everything else by observation and experience. 

The Voice of Other Colleges. 

Illinois University. — After claiming in his answer 
to the first question that the principal deficiency in 
good farmers is " along economic lines," the corre- 
spondent answers " No " to questions 2 and 3 and adds 
that " the best demonstrations of good farming are 
those that are being made upon thousands of success- 
ful farms throughout the State, and there are about as 
many models of them as there are individual farmers," 
which gives the inference that his school is entitled to 
credit for these successful farmers. 

This, of course, is absolutely false. If it proves 
anything it proves that the farmers obtained success 
without the colleges and therefore do not need them. 



276 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

He answers " No " to question 5, adding that the 
farmer " needs a vast store of that which is got on his 
own ground by his own information and experience." 
He can not get it all from examples. 

In answering question 6, both Wisconsin and Illi- 
nois claim they are receiving many applications for 
their graduates from the farmers; but this statement 
does not agree with the facts thus far brought out in 
my investigation, which show that there is but little 
demand among the first-class farmers for this class of 
help. 

Where the Colleges are Lacking. 

Fearing that the replies from the colleges, and my 
comments as given above, may be too complicated for 
my readers to digest them, I will give the substance of 
them briefly: 

While they claim that the farmers are deficient in 
the running of their farms, they admit that they are 
doing nothing in the way of issuing general instruc- 
tions directing the farmers how to operate their farms 
to the best advantage, and that they have never taken a 
farm and operated it for the purpose of demonstrating 
what it is capable of producing under what might be 
termed scientific or intelligent farming, which would 
be the natural and businesslike method if the colleges 
possessed any information of value to the farmers. 

The statement already quoted from the letter 
received from the Illinois college, that " the best 
demonstrations of good farming are those that are 
being made upon thousands of successful farms 
throughout the State" (which appHes equally well to 
every farming State in this country), goes right to the 
bottom of this whole question. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 277 

Plenty of Successful Farms. 

The country is full of these successful farms, and 
farmers everywhere have an opportunity to observe 
them and in this way become acquainted with the best 
farming practice. 

As an illustration of the lack of substantial 
information on this subject, I refer to a conversation 
that I recently had with a prominent Illinois farmer. 
He stated that, upon applying to one of the leading 
professors of the Illinois college for information as to 
what to do in order to get the best results from a cer- 
tain piece of land, he was advised to put it into clover 
and then go through the regular process of plowing 
this in, which, of course, would necessitate the loss of a 
crop that year. 

Instead of doing this, the farmer bought fertilizer, 
which resulted in a large crop that season, and thus he 
was a long way ahead on the venture. Still, this farmer 
says that fertilizers are expensive and that good judg- 
ment must be exercised in applying them. 

It will sometimes be noticed that one farmer will 
obtain say 80 bushels of corn per acre, while the farmer 
on the adjoining piece of land will have, perhaps, only 
40 bushels, and the question naturally arises, why does 
not the latter consider it to his advantage to get as 
much out of his land as his neighbor ? 

More Light Needed. 

The one obtaining the 80 bushels must do this 
either by the use of fertilizers or by allowing his land 
to be pastured for a year and in that way become 
enriched ; and, as it is difficult to imagine that the man 
who gets only half this quantity is entirely ignorant, I 



278 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

think it may be concluded he feels he is just as well 
off with a crop of 40 bushels as he would be if he went 
to the expense of fertilizers, or allowed his land to go 
into pasture for a time, in order to secure double that 
quantity. 

From the foregoing it is evident that this subject is 
far from being solved and that there is a chance for 
much light to be thrown on it. 

The only thing the colleges have undertaken in the 
branch of farming covered by this investigation, has 
been the teaching of it and the conducting of experi- 
ments on a small scale, which, in my opinion, can be of 
but little value, as it is mainly theoretical, the teachers 
being simply theorists. 

Value of Agricultural College Work Not Con- 
clusive. 

The great problem to-day for the farmer, and, 
indeed for everyone who is interested in the question, 
is how to get the most out of the soil and maintain its 
maximum fertility. Any person who is able to throw 
light on this subject is entitled to the greatest con- 
sideration. 

It will be seen by reference to the note to questions 
I and 2 [in the subjoined list of questions] that I 
wished to except from this part of the inquiry such 
special features as butter and cheese making, stock 
breeding, special fertilizers, and the study of seeds. 
For the present, therefore, I shall consider only the 
three classifications — rotation of crops, cultivation, 
and the care and feeding of stock. 

These three features cover about ninety per cent 
of all that concerns the ordinary farmer. The other 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 279 

subjects will be considered later on in this investiga- 
tion. 

I have mentioned two reasons why I might dis- 
miss, without further inquiry, the whole question of the 
agricultural college helping the farmer. I may now 
name still another reason. 

Among the questions I asked the colleges as to 
where they found the farmer deficient, they enu- 
merated certain things. 

I also asked them whether they ever had issued any 
general instructions to assist the farmer in running his 
farm, and they said they had not. 

Now, it is inconceivable how any institution can 
help a person without giving him definite and clear 
instructions as to how to do his work; particularly 
where it seems to be apparent that the person is doing 
his work wrong. 

Questions Asked of Farmers. 

As the colleges admittedly fail here, I shall present 
the testimony of farmers themselves as to the practical 
value of agricultural education. 

From the county clerks of twenty-eight counties in 
the States of Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin (and in 
sections immediately surrounding the respective agri- 
cultural colleges, because there, if anywhere, the bene- 
fits of the colleges should be known) the names of 464 
representative farmers were received ; and to these the 
following questions were sent : 

I. Have agricultural colleges been of any assistance 
to you in operating your farm, either through literature 
that they have published, or by lectures? 



280 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

2. If SO, please state specifically how they have helped 
you. 

(Note. — This investigation has reference only to mat- 
ters pertaining to the running of an ordinary farm and 
does not include special features, such as butter and 
cheese making, stock breeding, special fertilizers, the study 
of seeds, or the other matters that belong to the experi- 
mental station.) 

3. Have you ever employed on your farm any person 
who had attended an agricultural college? 

4. If so, what has been your experience with such 
help — that is, have you found their services more satis- 
factory than the services of ordinary farm hands who 
never attended college? 

5. If you consider the former class of help more sat- 
isfactory, please state in what respect you have found 
them so. 

6. Would you be willing to pay such help higher 
wages than the ordinary farm hand, and if so, how much 
higher ? 

7. What is the general impression in your neighbor- 
hood regarding the merits of agricultural colleges? 

8. Have you sent any of your children to an agricul- 
tural college? 

9. If so, do you feel that they have been benefited by 
such experience? 

10. If they were benefited, please give some details 
regarding the benefits derived; also state whether you 
consider that these benefits are worth what it costs to 
take a course in one of these schools, estimating this to 
be about $3,000. 

This set of questions was answered more or less 
fully by 163 persons. 

Classifying the Answers. 

The answers first were divided into two classifica- 
tions — those favoring the general proposition that 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 281 

agricultural! colleges are beneficial ; and those who do 
not consider them of assistance. 

In the first classification forty-one were favorable 
without stating why, and fifty-four were favorable, 
stating reasons for their position — a total of ninety- 
five. 

In the second classification sixty-eight answered 
" No " to the first question. 

From this classification it will be seen that a ma- 
jority of the farmers responding are disposed to say a 
good word for the agricultural colleges ; but a close 
analysis shows that, with a few exceptions, they fail 
to be convincingly specific in answering the first and 
second of my questions. 

But, granting that every one answering " Yes " to 
these questions had specifically shown practical bene- 
fit through the activities of these colleges, the question 
still would remain: Would this benefit justify the 
existence of the agricultural colleges at public expense ? 

I maintain that educational enterprises should be 
carried on at public expense only where they meet with 
practically unanimous public approval. 

It is difficult to conceive how anything that is 
looked upon with disfavor by so large a minority as is 
shown in the answers received from my inquiries, can 
be of material advantage or can be considered fairly as 
a justifiable public charge. 

The farmers who in their answers speak favorably 
of the colleges seem to take three general views : 

First: They think the experimental work of the 
colleges will help them. 

Second: They receive information of benefit to 
them in their farming from the general Government 
through these State institutions. 



282 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

Third : The State institution is doing special work 
in the direction of eradicating tuberculosis and other 
diseases of farm animals, and also in suppressing vari- 
ous kinds of insect and vegetable pests. 

As Sources of Information. 

As I hold it unreasonable to imagine or to claim 
that the colleges can teach in the classroom anything 
that is of practical use to the farmer, I believe I am 
justified in the opinion that the farmers who speak 
well of these colleges do so because they consider them 
disseminators of helpful information. They, like my- 
self, j)lace little or no value on the agricultural college 
as a place where boys may be taught practical farming. 

Coming back to the farmers' letters, I find that the 
benefits said to have been derived from the colleges 
fall almost wholly into the following five classifica- 
tions : Rotation of crops, fertilizing, cultivation, study 
and selection of seeds, and care and feeding of stock. 

As the assertion is made in nearly all of the favor- 
able responses that the benefits were received through 
bulletins and lectures, I naturally tried to discover the 
character of these sources of information and help. 

As I could not secure the lectures I was obliged to 
confine my search to the bulletins ; but I assume that 
the lectures cover nothing that has not been published 
in the bulletins. 

For the purpose of ascertaining what information 
the bulletins give on these special subjects, I have gone 
carefully over the bulletins issued by the Michigan 
station for 1905 and 1907; by the Wisconsin station 
for 1905 and 1906; eleven unbound bulletins issued by 
Wisconsin at various dates; and twenty-five bulletin.s 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 283 

and circulars sent out by the agricultural college of the 
University of Illinois — comprising in all some 3,200 
pages of printed matter. 

I have not found in the Michigan and Wisconsin 
reports a single bulletin that gives fully important 
information regarding the rotation of crops, cultivation, 
or fertilizers. There is incidental mention of these sub- 
jects scattered through the various bulletins and in 
accounts of experiments statements are made as to 
fertilizers used, but nowhere is the information given 
concisely and by itself. 

Something about Fertilizing. 

The Illinois reports show that the problem of per- 
manently maintaining the fertility of the soil is being 
studied and that in their experiments they have found 
that by employing certain systems of farming and 
using phosphorus as a fertilizer (they recommend rock 
phosphorus) yields can be profitably increased and soil 
fertility maintained. 

These results, however, must be looked upon as 
experimental until it can be shown that the ordinary 
farmer by utilizing the information given in the bulle- 
tins has been enabled to make his farm more profitable. 
Results obtained in actual practice would be much more 
convincing than those obtained in experiments. 

As to the care and feeding of stock, some of the 
bulletins have gone quite elaborately into this, and 
figures are given to show how much better results have 
been obtained from certain methods of feeding and 
from certain feeds ; but nowhere in the 350 odd pages 
I have read do we find reduced to a few simple rules, 
that could be understood and followed by the ordinary 
farmer, information that would enable him without 



284 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

expensive experiments on his part to raise and fatten 
stock for the lowest possible price per hundred pounds. 

As different feeds are used in States producing the 
same crops, it is apparent that feeding is largely a mat- 
ter of individual judgment and local conditions as to 
relative price of foods, etc. 

There is a needless amount of detail and over- 
refinement in the published reports of the experiments 
that can be of no practical value and which serve only 
to confuse. 

Feeding Stock Special Business. 

In any event, the feeding of cattle has come to be 
largely a special business ; that is, men now make a 
business of buying cattle and fattening them for the 
market, and I doubt whether any information can be 
supplied that would be of any special assistance to 
them in this matter. Their interest in this matter is so 
great that they naturally would get the best results, so 
that there could be nothing about which the colleges 
would be able to give them information. 

As convincing proof that the farmers who answer 
" Yes " to my first question estimate the agricultural 
colleges almost solely as distributors of information, 
and not as makers of practical farmers, I refer to their 
answers touching the employment of college-trained 
men on their farms and to the sending of their children 
to these colleges to be trained as farmers. 

Of the sixty-eight who said they had not been 
benefited by the colleges, nine say they have employed 
college graduates on their farms and that they all had 
proved to be unsatisfactory. 

Of the ninety-five who are favorable to agricultural 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 285 

colleges, eleven have employed such help, and three of 
these say that this help has not been satisfactory. 

With reference to the question of sending their 
children to the agricultural colleges, only five out of the 
ninety-five who are in favor of the colleges have done 
this. 

Among those unfavorable to the colleges, three sent 
their children to an agricultural college, and in two of 
these cases they report that the result was not satis- 
factory. 

Is it not strikingly inconsistent that so few of those 
who favor the colleges either have employed college 
graduates or have sent their children to college? 

Among the farmers favoring agricultural colleges a 
number went out of their way to say a good word for 
these institutions as being dispensers of higher ideas, 
etc., but none of these claims has any particular bearing 
on the subject of my investigation. 

What the " No's " Have to Say. 

It is evident from the letters received that the 
farmers answering " No " to the general proposition 
— 68 out of 163 — are just as positive that their posi- 
tion on this question is right as are those who have 
answered " Yes." 

In fact, among the negative responses are some who 
go so far as to say that these colleges actually do harm ; 
that young men turned out by them are not as good 
farmers as the young men who get all their training on 
the farm. Here are a few of these opinions : 

One writer says he sent one of his sons to Agri- 
cultural College, Michigan, and in answer to my ques- 
tion, " Do you feel that he has been benefited by such 
experience ? " answers : " Yes. It could hardly be 



286 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

Otherwise ; but equal benefits could have been derived 
at our home town at less cost. The agriculture taught 
at the college is not and never can be the husbandry of 
the farm." 

Another writes : " We thought of sending a boy, 
but before we got ready a neighbor sent a boy, and he 
has come home. You should see his farming! It 
surely did not do him any good. Another neighbor's 
boy went. He has come home a first-class farmer; 
but he was good when he went away, and so was his 
father." 

Another suggests : " I should say a boy had better 
go to some good school and graduate ; then go to the 
best farmer he can find and tell him he wants to learn 
to farm, and ask for a job. Try him six months, and 
if he does not think his employer is up to date and he 
could get more from another, hire to him. I should 
say that a three-years' course like this, working on an 
average one year for each farmer, should round a 
young man up in pretty good shape to begin for him- 
self." 

Still another says : " The dean of the Wisconsin 
Agricultural College advised my neighbor not to take 
a course there unless he wished to become a teacher. 
This does not refer to the experimental station." 

The Fundamental Things. 

In order to avoid confusion I would remind my 
readers that I started out in this investigation to dis- 
cover what the agricultural colleges were doing along 
the important lines of rotation of crops, fertilizing, and 
cultivation, as I regard these as being the fundamental 
features of practical general farming. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 287 

It will be seen from what I have said here that 
there is nothing in the college bulletins on these topics 
(which cover ninety per cent of all) that is of any im- 
portance to the farmer, notwithstanding the enormous 
amount of writing and printing the colleges have done 
on these subjects. 

The Short Agricultural Course Fails to Justify 
Its Claims. 

In introducing this topic I dismissed the full or 
regular course of the agricultural college as being so 
completely ridiculous and impractical that I would not 
discuss it. The short or special courses of these col- 
leges, however, appear to appeal to many as having 
some value, and for this reason I shall consider them. 

In the short and special courses the colleges say in 
effect to the farmer : " Here is an assortment of prac- 
tical things. Among them you'll find something you 
need. Take your choice." 

This sounds very fascinating. But if the colleges 
have these things to offer, they also should have the 
intelligence to know whether or not the farmer really 
needs all or any of them to make him practical and 
successful. 

They also should know whether the farmer is cor- 
rect in fancying that he does need something from the 
college, and whether he can get anything of practical 
advantage from the college, should he take one or more 
of the short or special courses. 

For example : I have seen a picture of an audience 
of 2,000 farmers listening to a lecture on tuberculosis. 
The professors are in the act of dissecting the animal 
to show the disease. Can anyone imagine a more 
stupid piece of business than for the professors to 



288 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

invite the farmers to leave their work to come and 
look at this operation? What do you suppose the 
farmer would know about this after the lecture? Is 
he to cut up his animals? He wants to know how to 
judge them without doing this. Such lectures and 
demonstrations are purely matters for veterinary stu- 
dents. 

Some of these short courses consist of teaching 
boys how to select corn for seed; others teach them 
how to lay tile for drains ; others how to judge stock. 
All of this is perfectly stupid, and it is an outrage to 
call farm lads from their work to teach them things 
that they know as much about as the colleges. This is 
a fair specimen of the way the farmers are deceived 
and humbugged by the colleges. 

What Does the Farmer Need? 

The important point just here is : What or who is 
going to settle correctly whether the farmer actually 
does need the aid of the colleges ? The mere fact that 
here and there a farmer imagines he does need this 
help, or is persuaded that he does through the attrac- 
tive arguments of the colleges, is no evidence that he 
actually does need college assistance. 

The fact that any feature of education is in 
demand is no evidence that it has merit. The mere 
fact that many people go to the higher schools is no 
evidence whatever that they are benefited by these 
schools, because they have no means of judging 
whether what they learn in the schools is going to be 
beneficial to them. In their inexperience they go to the 
schools on account of the general public clamor, and 
because of the men who are at the head of these insti- 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 289 

tutions. They have no knowledge whatever that they 
are benefited by the schools. 

The Point for Comparison. 

What I have already said along this line in Part 
One regarding " higher education " generally applies 
equally to agricultural schools. 

The point as to whether the farmer actually needs 
the help of these short and special courses can be deter- 
mined best by looking over what the colleges offer in 
this line, and comparing what these courses offer to 
teach with the practical working of the farm. 

In looking over Bulletin No. 140, General Series 
No. 79, issued by the University of Wisconsin, being, 
" a circular of information relating to the short course 
in agriculture," I find this course covers the following 
lines of instruction: 

Breeds of Live Stock: Breeding, Judging, Care 
AND Management. 

This appears to be a two years' course. As I 
understand it, the breeding of any animal to a large 
extent is systematic and skilled work, and to get results 
something beyond the ordinary in this direction, the 
work must be conducted by a person who has extraor- 
dinary judgment, a great deal of experience, and who 
has made a thorough study of what has become a 
special business. 

Of course, every farmer knows enough to select 

his best stock for breeding purposes and to keep the 

best stock in his herds. I maintain, therefore, that this 

course offers nothing practical to the ordinary farmer. 
19 



290 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

Feeds and Feeding. 

This also is a two years' course. In it the college 
seems to have gone into the greatest refinement, taking 
in such matters as digestion, etc. 

I have looked over a book of six hundred pages 
(one of a dozen or more text-books used by the col- 
lege in the short courses) entitled, " Feeds and Feed- 
ing," by Prof. W. A. Henry, of the University of 
Wisconsin. The author has gone into the subject with 
such complication and refinement that I question if 
one farmer in a thousand would be able to get any 
practical information out of it. 

This book is a good deal in the nature of what 
comes from this class of writers. They go so far in 
their explanation of the various phases of the subject 
and one has to wade through such an immense amount 
of immaterial matter that it is difficult to find out the 
points they are trying to make. 

One Useless Book. 

Common sense warrants the conclusion that this 
book is a pronounced failure, so far as conveying any 
information of value to the farmer is concerned. In 
fact, the ordinary farmer would get as much out of 
it if it were written in Latin. 

The book gives the results of certain combinations 
of feed, which may have some value to the farmer 
after he has figured out and determined by actual 
experiment which feeds he can use to the best advan- 
tage. 

The book shows that in some parts of the country 
one feed combination is used to advantage, while in 
other parts of the country, raising similar feed crops, a 
different combination is used. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 291 

It seems strange that some one has not determined 
which combination will produce the best results. It 
stands to reason that something could be done toward 
making this clear and getting some practical results 
from it ; but we don't need a book of any six hundred 
pages, either to show us how or to tell us when it is 
discovered. 

Veterinary Science. 

I shall pass this with the simple observation that 
no ordinary farmer expects to be a veterinarian. 
Naturally there are many small matters in reference 
to taking care of animals when they are sick, for which 
a brief bulletin might be of value to the farmer ; but 
this is as far as the ordinary farmer can be expected to 
go in veterinary science. 

Soils. 

This also is a two years' course, and it is treated 
exhaustively. In my judgment, this is a matter from 
which the experimental stations might get good results, 
but that it is not a matter for the farmer to go into 
at all. 

Plant Life and Horticulture. 

This requires a two years' course. The text-books 
are rather exhaustive treatises on a great variety of 
subjects connected with plants. The course might be 
interesting to a gardener, but it is nothing for the 
farmer. 

Farm Dairying. 

Butter and cheese making have become very largely 
specialized businesses, and no doubt they have received 
the skill and study that every large business receives. 



292 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

It is highly improbable that schools could give those 
engaged in these lines any information ; and it is rea- 
sonable to assume that a person wishing to learn butter 
and cheese making would go to one of the factories, 
where he not only could learn the business from trained 
men, but at the same time would be earning wages. 
The rest of this course is covered in my comments on 
" Feeds and Feeding." 

As to the general care of stock, cleanliness, etc., all 
of which affect the quality and purity of milk, the 
farmer needs nothing more than the requirements of 
the contracts he signs with the management of the 
creameries to which he sells milk. 

Agricultural Chemistry. 

The colleges have gone into this subject systemat- 
ically, and, while it may have some advantages for 
those making an exhaustive study of agriculture, it 
is positively of no use to the farmer. 

Bacteriology. 

This is about as valuable as chemistry to the ordi- 
nary farmer. 

Farm Bookkeeping and Business Accounts. 

It is probably a good thing for the farmer to have 
some system of keeping accounts, so that he may know 
what each field produces and also what each crop costs, 
taking into consideration interest, taxes, cost of fenc- 
ing, etc., and also the cost of maintaining the fertility 
of the soil. 

To determine this latter matter with accuracy, the 
farmer must not rob the soil of its fertility for the 
benefit of one crop at the loss of a succeeding crop. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 293 

Doubtless, this is a pretty nice question for the ordi- 
nary farmer to settle, and it would be interesting if it 
could be made clear to him just how to do it. 

Agricultural Economics. 

In this subject refinement of treatment is carried 
to great length. Yet it is much in line with what I 
have said on bookkeeping — that is, it aims to teach 
the farmer how to find out what crops pay him best. 
But the difficulty must be apparent of any one being 
able to convey clear-cut information on this subject 
that would be practically valuable to the farmer. 

Farm products vary considerably at different times. 
One year may bring a big crop at a low price ; but this 
is no reason why the farmer should not raise any of 
this crop the next year. To go into this matter as the 
college proposes in its bulletin would lead to an enor- 
mous amount of complication, and I am convinced 
that nothing practical could come of it. 

If a soil becomes exhausted from producing a par- 
ticular crop, but is good for some other crop, every 
farmer knows enough to make the change without 
being told. If a pest destroys a certain crop, it would 
be folly for the farmer to fight the pest ; he should pro- 
duce a crop that would not be attacked by that particu- 
lar pest. These are features of agricultural economics 
in which the farmer needs no college instruction. 

Farm Crops. 

On this topic the circular says the object of the 
course is " to fit students to judge samples of grains in 
a systematic manner. Best methods of testing the 
seed, planting, cultivating and curing crops are dis- 
cussed." 



294 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

I maintain the farmer is able to see without going 
to college whether a potato is big and clean, the size 
of an ear of corn, and of the kernels on the ear. The 
farmer always has selected the best of his crops for 
seed. He doesn't need to be told to do this or how to 
do it. These are perfectly obvious things, and so this 
course seems to me to be unnecessary. 

Agricultural Engineering, Practical 
Mechanics. 

Agricultural engineering embraces architecture. I 
do not think there is anything to be gained by teaching 
farmers architecture. This is a matter for the architect 
or builder, and all farming communities probably are 
well supplied with such talent. 

When it comes to machinery, the college is really 
getting down to something in which it might do some 
good. This is something that meets with my hearty 
approval, and there is no doubt it would pay the farm 
boy to take a year's course in practical mechanics. I 
hold, however, that training in such lines — manual, 
etc., — should be given in every district school, and 
that if this were done properly, there would be no 
occasion to send a boy to college for simple mechanical 
instruction. 

Doubtless, though, it would be a good and useful 
thing, if these colleges, in their mechanical courses, 
would devote themselves to the making of teachers who 
would be fully competent to go into the district schools 
of the country and instruct farmers' boys in manual 
training and elementary mechanics. 

Nothing Practical Offered. 
Thus I have passed briefly through the short and 
special courses. Looking at the whole subject from 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 295 

the common-sense, practical point of view, I insist that 
there is nothing offered in any one or all of these 
courses of any real practical value to the farmer. 

Everything that the colleges issue is altogether too 
voluminous, too technical, and goes too much into 
largely inconsequential matter, such as the details of 
unfinished experiments and the complete report of 
experiments with no results. 

It is encouraging to note that after the University 
of Wisconsin has issued tons of this valueless printed 
matter and taken up the time of thousands of farmers 
to read these pamphlets with no results, it now sees 
and acknowledges the stupidity of its former practice, 
announcing that hereafter " more emphasis will be 
given to the presentation of the practical results ob- 
tained from the experimental work." 

An Oversupply of Literature. 

But why have colleges to do even this publishing? 
This country is enormously supplied with agricultural 
literature. In fact, I consider this matter is vastly 
overdone already. The farmer is overburdened with 
standard and modern agricultural books, college and 
experimental station bulletins, magazines, farm papers, 
and weekly newspapers. Consequently there is no rea- 
son why the colleges should add to the volume of 
printed matter — admitting, for the sake of argument, 
they have anything worth adding. 

The great trouble with writers on educational topics 
is that they do not seem to have any idea of econ- 
omizing in words or time. To my mind, there is 
nothing so clearly shows the stupidity of most writers 
on economic subjects as the lack of economy they 
show by using too many words. They seem to have 



296 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

nothing of importance to say, and to hide their 
ignorance they smother it with words. 

The Training of Teachers. 

The colleges may claim that though certain things 
they teach may be of no direct practical use to the 
ordinary farmer, yet they are needed in the training of 
teachers. But why instruct teachers of agriculture 
how to impart information that the farmer neither 
wants nor needs? 

The colleges can find out readily from their grad- 
uates what benefits they have derived from a college 
education, and certainly these colleges are not war- 
ranted in continuing their work unless they have clear 
and positive evidence that the results are beneficial. 

I maintain that it is distinctly wrong for any edu- 
cational institution to take a man's time and money 
in teaching him a lot of things that are of no piactical 
value to him. 

Educators should be absolutely sure on such points 
before encouraging young men to take a course in col- 
lege, whether that course be long or short, thick or 
thin. 

Experimental Stations. 

Before summing up this feature of agricultural 
education, I wish to refer briefly to the experimental 
stations that are conducted generally in connection with 
the State agricultural colleges. 

Much of the matter that I have been commenting 
on comes from the experimental station, and conse- 
quently the experimental station fails to be of real 
practical service in about the same measure as the 
college does. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 297 

Analysis of Bulletins. 

I shall make brief reference to a few of the bulle- 
tins on experimental work that I have not mentioned 
previously : 

On Milk. There is a large number of bulletins 
on milk. One deals with " The Associative Action of 
Bacteria in the Souring of Milk " — eighteen pages 
telling scientifically how milk sours, but not one word 
telling practically how to keep milk from souring. 
Summed up, these bulletins say to the farmer: Keep 
the cows free from tuberculosis ; be clean. This whole 
talk on milk is simply a jumble of scientific terms and 
hair-splitting theories. 

In short, from the amount of stuflf the experimental 
stations have published on milk, we would suppose it 
was an entirely new product. Yet I can remember that 
when I was a boy, the farmers' wives had good milk. 
They knew how to keep the pans sweet and clean, how 
to gather the cream, how to keep the milk cool and 
sweet in the cellar, how to make the best of butter. 
How in the world could they have done these simple 
things without the aid of experimental stations, agri- 
cultural colleges and bulletins ? 

Drainage, This bulletin doubtless contains infor- 
mation of some value, but the subject is well under- 
stood among farmers. The experimental station 
appears simply to have handed down old information 
that was fully published in books many years ago. As 
nothing new is said, there was no need for this print- 
ing. 

Pests. A great deal is said about pests, both those 
that attack farm animals and those that destroy grain 
and fruit crops. Some of these are proper studies for 



298 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

experimental farms or for the State, particularly the 
pests affecting animals. As for the pests attacking 
crops, the bulletins I have read deal chiefly with pro- 
posed weapons for combating the insects and fungi 
that attack the apple-tree. They deal with a great 
variety of pests, and tell how to detect them at differ- 
ent stages. The language may be considered highly 
technical, and, perhaps, scientific, and I consider it 
most absurd to send out such literature to the ordinary 
farmer. Nothing practical can come from it. It 
would be far better to advise the farmer that if pests 
attack his apple crop, to let the apple business alone and 
devote his energies to some more profitable crop. 

An Unnecessary Expense. 

Alfalfa in Michigan. This bulletin takes ten 
pages to tell of experiments in growing alfalfa in 
Michigan, in which the experimental station cooperated 
with some eighty farmers in various parts of the 
State. The outcome was the conclusion that alfalfa 
was a failure in that State. Why didn't the experi- 
mental station find this out itself, and not put the 
farmers to trouble, expense and loss? 

Substation of Upper Michigan. This appears 
to have been established to show that hundreds of 
experiments in farming the cleared northern timber 
lands produced practically the same results. The sta- 
tion might have shown whether there was profit in 
such farming, and thus have given us something new ; 
but it didn't do anything of the kind. 

Roadmaking. a bulletin of forty-eight pages on 
this subject comes from Wisconsin. To follow out 
its instructions fully would require a machine equip- 
ment that no ordinary farming section could afford. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 299 

The bulletin goes into all phases of this subject, from 
corduroy roads to macadam and park boulevards. It 
shoots entirely over the head of the average farmer. 
No information is given that can be of any practical 
use to him. 

On Swine. Twenty-two pages on pigs and pig- 
geries make this part of farming seem such a fine art 
that one wonders how the farmers ever managed to 
raise hogs before. 

Prominence of the Impracticable. 

There are a great many other bulletins on various 
subjects, but none of them contains any practical infor- 
mation of value to the farmer. I think I have now 
given enough to this subject to convince my readers 
of the impracticability of everything coming from these 
experimental stations. 

I do not wholly condemn experimental stations, but 
I can see nothing coming from them to warrant their 
existence as they are managed now. It appears to me 
reasonable that each State government (especially in 
the Western country) should have an experimental 
farm in charge of a practical farmer of sound judg- 
ment and wide experience, to be on the lookout for 
new lines of agricultural products and to test them 
with a view to determining their value to that particu- 
lar part of the country. 

But one good man for each State could do all that 
is necessary in this direction — and he would not need 
to be a college man either. 

Whatever of practical value to the farming com- 
munity the experimental stations may have given, it 
seems absurd to me that the agricultural colleges 
should claim anv credit for it. From the first this has 



300 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

been Government work, and doubtless the great bulk 
of any results thus far attained should be credited to 
the agricultural department of the general Government. 

Some Extravagant Claims. 

We are continually seeing extravagant assertions 
in the papers as to the great things the agricultural 
colleges and their students are doing by way of improv- 
ing the condition of farms and farm products ; but 
after the closest observation and care in reading hun- 
dreds of the college bulletins, I do not find a single 
clear-cut case where they have made an important 
discovery or an improvement in anything. 

I believe now I have covered all the points neces- 
sary to strike a fair estimate of the value of agricul- 
tural education to the farmer and to the State. 

I have shown what these institutions have cost to 
establish and what it costs to maintain them. I have 
given a statement from a college professor setting forth 
what the colleges aim to do. I have given the results 
of an inquiry as to what the farmers think of these 
colleges. I have pointed out the utter absurdity of the 
college claim that the long course — meaning, practi- 
cally, four years in high school and four years in col- 
lege — is needed to make good ordinary farmers. I 
have shown that the ordinary farmer has no need for 
any one or all of the so-called short or special courses. 
I have analyzed enough of the agricultural bulletins to 
strike a reasonable average. And I have expressed 
my doubts as to the real utility even of the experi- 
mental station. 

All in the way of education that it is necessary for 
a farm lad to have to make him a successful, up-to-date 
farmer could be given in the schools of the country 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 301 

districts at but a trifling additional increase of the 
present common-school tax. Let every district school 
have a good teacher of manual training and element- 
ary mechanics for the boys and a good teacher of the 
domestic arts — cooking, sewing, etc., for the girls — 
and the taxpayer would be getting something worth 
while for the small added tax. Let this be done well 
first. Make the foundation sound and broad. 

Something to Be Taught. 

Surely it is vastly more important to teach farmers 
how to take care of themselves than to teach them how 
to fatten cattle, feed horses and raise hogs. Teach 
the farm boys and girls in the common schools how to 
make better and more comfortable homes, how to do 
better cooking, how to use their heads and hands to 
much more general advantage. Teach them more of 
these simple, practical, needful things, and no one need 
worry about their learning all the practical agriculture 
they require right on the farm. 

I wish here to repeat that I am not opposed to edu- 
cation, but only to its useless and extravagant frills 
and fads. I am most decidedly a champion of that 
education which, first, aids a man in earning a liveli- 
hood, and so contributes to his own happiness; and 
second, makes of him a good citizen, and thus con- 
tributes to the happiness of others. 

Education the Farmer Needs. 

The education the farmer needs to meet both of 
these essentials he should get in the country common 
schools. His practical education he may get best — 
in fact, only — on the farm. If he feels that he wants 



302 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

more than this he should not expect the public to pay 
for it. 

The agricultural college, thus far at least, has been 
the fifth wheel to the farmer's wagon, and it has cost 
him a pretty penny to keep it going. Until the farmer 
or the agricultural college can show definite and really 
valuable results coming from the agricultural education 
of to-day, common sense and sound business judgment 
must place it among the fallacies of our complicated 
" higher " educational machinery. 



CHAPTER XL 

HOW THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 
DEFRAUDS THE STATE. 

The substance of what I have said thus far on 
agricultural colleges was published about a year ago, 
and I was under the impression that after such pub- 
licity these institutions would be a trifle more modest 
in their claims. This, however, does not seem to have 
been the case, if one may judge from several articles 
printed recently in newspapers and magazines. 

I think that in the foregoing pages on this subject 
I have made it clear that the University of Wisconsin 
— like practically all of the higher educational institu- 
tions — is a great fraud and an imposition on the pub- 
lic. All these institutions resort to an immense amount 
of deception, but none of them, so far as I know, can 
be compared with the university at Madison in its bare- 
faced misrepresentation of facts. 

While I realize that this is pretty strong language, 
let us see how the facts bear me out. 

Some Reckless Statements. 

I quote from two full-page articles in the Chicago 
Record-Herald, of July ii and i8, 1909, by Mr, 
Charles H. Leichliter, as follows : 

Wisconsin is in all probability the one State in the 
Union whose entire population " goes to college." That 
the University of Wisconsin literally is teaching the 



304 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

entire 2,500,000 population of the State is explained by 
the fact that it has an exceptionally well-developed ex- 
tension course. 

And again ; 

In 1906 20,000,000 more bushels of corn were produced 
by the State than in 1901, on the same area of ground. 
That meant easily ten millions of dollars more in the 
pockets of the farmers. 

Through its college of agriculture Wisconsin has so 
educated the farmers of the State that the yield of bar- 
ley has been multiplied in the past five or six years 
many fold, and barley development of the State, which 
consumes so much of that grain, is only beginning. Pro- 
fessor Ransom A. Moore, of the university, estimates that 
by the year 1912 approximately 50,000,000 bushels will be 
grown in the State, and that in the crops for the follow- 
ing year, if the experiments now being carried on develop, 
as the light of past experience indicates they will, Wiscon- 
sin will be able to produce enough barley of the finest 
variety to plant the barley acreage of the world. 

The ground is taken that this university is entitled 
to the credit for this increase in yield. 

In going into the subject of corn, I am fortunate 
in being able to prove that this university is misleading, 
by its ovi^n records, as shovs^n in its reports ; so that the 
public can not accuse me of being prejudiced or unfair 
in the discussion of this matter. 

We vi^ill now see what this experimental station has 
to say on this subject in its annual reports of 1904 to 
1908, inclusive. 

In the report for the year ending June 30, 1904, the 
experimenters give an account of their work with 
Silver King corn on eighteen and one-half acres of 
ground. 

I have no reports previous to this year, but this 
appears to have been the first experiment with this corn, 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 305 

as this report makes no mention of any previous experi- 
ment. 

The report states that the yield obtained was 72y2 
bushels per acre, and the yield of seed corn was 12 
bushels. It has no remarks to make of any impor- 
tance, however, regarding this corn. All it has to say 
is that certain methods of planting were followed and 
attention was given to the question of suckers, smut, 
etc. 

As TO Yield of Corn. 

Nothing is said as to whether the yield was satis- 
factory, or whether it was better than the yield of any 
other corn. 

The 1905 report shows that there was a wide varia- 
tion in the yield, one row giving a yield of 296 pounds, 
while another gave only 29^ pounds. There was also 
a wide difference in the yield of select seed corn, one 
row giving 56 pounds, while another gave only i^ 
pounds. 

The total yield showed a variation of from 14 to 
97 bushels per acre of shelled corn, the average yield 
being 58)^ bushels, which, it will be noticed, was a 
marked falling off in production from the average of 
the preceding year (723^ bushels). 

On this point the report says : " The continued 
cold, wet weather following planting, acted in a detri- 
mental way to the growth of the corn and in some 
rows only a partial stand was secured." 

Still, nothing is said in favor of this Silver King 
corn. Also this report does not give the amount of 
seed corn produced. 

20 



306 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

Report Shows Increase. 

The report for 1906 says : " It is encouraging to 
note that the proportions and average yields of seed 
corn and marketable corn have been materially 
increased over those of a year ago." 

The report also states that the average yield was 
75 bushels per acre, which, it will be noted, was con- 
siderably more than the preceding year, and slightly 
greater than 1904. 

This report also says : " Not all the increase is 
due to the selection of seed, as the growing season in 
1906 was more favorable and the plots were on better 
soil. It is noticeable, however, that the increase of 
seed corn is greater in proportion than that of the 
nubbins." 

Again I quote from this report : " The results for 
this year encourage the belief that constant selection 
of the best ears from the best rows of the breeding 
plot will materially increase the productiveness and 
improve the quality of our seed corn." 

This, of course, is something that everyone who 
is at all acquainted with the subject knows, and it is a 
universal practice. 

Planted in Better Land. 

While the report claims a slight increase in yield, 
it is to be noted that it states that the corn is planted 
in better land. Still there is no claim as to the supe- 
riority of the Silver King corn. 

From the report of 1907, it seems that the experi- 
menters planted the general cornfield of eighteen acres 
of tested seed from the best ears in the previous year's 
crop. They state that the average yield was 63.8 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 307 

bushels of shelled corn per acre, which, it will be seen, 
was going backward from the average of 1906 (75 
bushels) and also from the average of 1904 report of 
725^ bushels. 

It is surprising that this report gives no explana- 
tion of this falling off. The only thing it has to say 
on this subject is that the season was backward in the 
beginning, but afterward they had good corn weather 
and the crop matured in good time. 

The report also states that they had an average 
stand of three stalks to the hill. 

I again notice in this report reference to the great 
variation in the production of different rows, run- 
ning from 83 pounds to 269 pounds, but notwith- 
standing this variation the claim is made that " the 
difference in yield of seed corn and total yield is not 
so great this year as in previous years' tests, as through 
the selection method of breeding practiced the corn 
has become more uniform and stable in character." 

This report says an average yield of seventeen per 
cent seed ears was secured. As the amount of seed corn 
mentioned in the 1904 report averaged practically the 
same as this year, it will be seen that there is nothing 
in the statement just quoted of the corn having become 
more stable. 

Nothing on Experiments, 

In the 1908 report there is not one word of any 
experiments with the Silver King corn. 

From the foregoing statements in the university 
reports it seems to me perfectly evident that the Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin has not discovered anything par- 
ticularly remarkable about the Silver King corn, as 
there is not a particle of evidence anywhere that any 



308 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

special advantages to the State from this corn are 
claimed. The only thing the authorities claim about 
the improvement in their breeding of the corn is that 
it has become more stable and that it gives more satis- 
factory results by producing a greater percentage of 
seed corn, but, as I have already shown, this statement 
is not correct. 

So there is absolutely no basis whatever on which 
this university can go before the public with this corn. 

It is perfectly evident, from the yield, that the uni- 
versity not only has not improved this corn, but that 
it actually has gone backward. 

In order that the reader may see this matter more 
clearly I give the following statement: 

1904. 1905. 1906. 1907. 
Average yield per acre, bushels. .72.5 58.5 75 63.8 
Percentage of seed corn 16.5% 17% 

No Comparison Made. 

In none of these experiments that the university 
has made does it compare this Silver King corn with 
any other corn. Consequently I do not understand how 
it can claim any merit for it. Without comparisons 
there is no basis for judgment as to its value. 

Soon after these articles appeared in the Record- 
Herald I wrote to President Charles R. Van Hise, of 
this university, requesting that he give me clear and 
definite information as to how this result in great 
increase in production of corn was brought about, and 
in answer I received a letter from Prof. R. A. Moore, 
of the department of agronomy at this university, in 
which, after describing the method of breeding corn, 
which is the same as mentioned in the reports of the 



TECHNICAL AxND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 309 

experimental station, and in any event has no bearing 
on the case, as what we want are results, he says : 
" We find that we have been enabled to nearly double 
the yield of corn by this process of breeding," and this 
is all he has to say on the subject of the alleged great 
increase in yield! 

As a matter of fact, instead of this statement that 
they have improved the corn being true, their reports, 
as I have already mentioned, show that they have gone 
backward in breeding the corn. 

The college authorities boast that some of the seed 
was sold at from $3 to $6 a bushel. If this were true 
it certainly was a great swindle to the farmers, and 
must have resulted from the university's false state- 
ments in regard to its merit, as from their own experi- 
ence the Silver King is not worth anything as a seed 
corn. 

These various reports have considerable to say with 
regard to what the members of the experiment asso- 
ciation are doing with this corn, but as the whole mat- 
ter rests on the question of what the university has 
done in the way of breeding and improving this corn, 
the question of what the experiment association has 
done is entirely irrelevant. 

A Backward Operation. 

As a matter of fact, if the association's experi- 
ments with this corn are the same as the university 
has been making, it has been a backward operation any- 
way. If the university, which has been paying close 
attention to this corn, has gone backv/ard, what could 
be expected from farmers, who paid but little atten- 
tion to the subject? 



310 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

Also, with the small amount of land that this uni- 
versity has for experimental purposes, it certainly 
could not produce any considerable amount of seed to 
distribute to these people anyway; that is, the seed 
from eighteen acres would not go far toward supply- 
ing 175,000 farmers. 

It is quite clear from all the information we can 
get on this corn question that there is an opportunity 
for the experimental stations of universities to do some 
good in the way of improving the corn crop, for the 
reason that with corn, like some other field products, 
there is an immense variation in the yield of certain 
varieties in certain parts of the country. This is quite 
evident from the enormous number of varieties of corn 
that are on the market. Corn that will do well in one 
section often will not do well in other sections. 

I have been told of a case where Virginia corn 
was brought into the State of Kentucky and produced 
150 bushels to the acre. But this same corn in other 
parts of the South did not do well at all. 

This being a very important matter, and the uncer- 
tainty of corn being so great, I maintain that an enter- 
prising experimental station would have the members 
of its experiment association test every variety of corn 
that is prominent anywhere, and would buy the corn 
by the carload and have these farmers test it in dif- 
ferent parts of the State. This is the way a business 
man would go about a matter of this kind ; but appar- 
ently these people have done nothing at all in this way. 

What Corn Does Well? 

So far as I can see from these reports of the experi- 
mental station at Madison, they have done nothing in 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 311 

the way of ascertaining what kind of corn does well 
in that State, or in any particular part of the State. 

They have made no systematic or businesslike 
effort to develop this most important subject. 

I maintain, therefore, that the University of Wis- 
consin, instead of being entitled to any credit for 
helping the farmer on the corn question, has been 
exceedingly neglectful of its duty to the State. This 
is certainly what the experimental station is for and 
it is its most important duty. 

If the corn crop of the State has been improved it is 
not due to anything this university has done, but more 
particularly to the enterprise of the seed-corn men. 

It seems to me that when corn shows deterioration 
and does not improve under close, systematic breeding, 
it would be folly to go on with it. 

Regarding Barley. 

As to what the university has done to improve 
barley, I would say that the further I look into this 
subject, the worse the showing for it. 

From all reports there is practically no difference 
between the Mansbury and the Oderbrucker barley. 
The reports show that Mansbury barley was intro- 
duced into Wisconsin from Germany in 1859 by Dr. 
H. Grunow, and in 1861 was introduced extensively. 
Undoubtedly this barley has been cultivated to a great 
extent for many years and it would seem strange that 
the college experts should neglect the old-established 
barley and then take it up under a new name. It 
looks as though they thought there was no glory in 
introducing the old barley under its old name, and so 
were trying to get some glory by palming off the old 
barley under a new name as a new discovery. This 



312 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

is a common trick of merchants, but I did not suppose 
that educators would resort to this sort of trickiness. 
The Oderbrucker barley was imported from Ger- 
many by the Ontario Agricultural College and was 
obtained from that source by Professor Moore. The 
Oderbrucker and the Mansbury are so nearly alike in 
every particular that an authority in the American 
Brewers' Review recommends the dropping of the 
name Oderbrucker altogether. 

Censure Is Merited. 

It seems strange that the university has been all 
these years discovering the merits of these two bar- 
leys, and instead of giving it credit for putting them 
before the public at this time it should be severely 
censured for not having done so before. I might say 
that I have endeavored to find out from the authorities 
at Madison what they have done to introduce this 
barley at the present time. The only thing I have been 
able to ascertain is that they have cooperated with 
about 500 out of 2,500 members of the Wisconsin 
Experimental Association. 

The university has published no literature on the 
subject, and when we consider that there are about 
175,000 farmers in Wisconsin, you can see that by aid- 
ing only one out of 350 what it has done toward intro- 
ducing this barley is only a trifle, even if it had any 
special merit. 

Long Used by Farmers. 

But the fact being that the Oderbrucker is identical 
with the Mansbury, which these farmers undoubtedly 
had been using for a great many years, it will be 
readily understood that the university claims to hav- 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 313 

ing done anything in the way of improving the barley 
of the State are absolutely without foundation. 

Now, as to the real merit of Oderbrucker barley, 
I would say that up to this time the Wisconsin product 
has no standing as a high-grade malting barley. The 
largest maltster in the State of Wisconsin has never 
adopted it and says in a letter that I have that he is 
now experimenting with it. Mr. Busch, of the 
Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company, who is always 
demanding the best barley that he can get, is not using 
the Wisconsin Oderbrucker. 

To sum this matter up, I would say that the Uni- 
versity of Wisconsin has practically done nothing 
whatever to improve the barley crop of the State ; in 
fact, there is no evidence, so far as I have seen, that 
this university has made any improvement in breeding 
anything, nor have I seen the claim made that this 
university is trying to be of any service to the State in 
any department except that of agriculture. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE RURAL SCHOOLS — A SADLY NEG- 
LECTED FOUNDATION. 

Regarding the assertion (quoted on page 303) that 
the entire State of Wisconsin " goes to college," let 
us see what the facts are ; what is the condition, for 
instance, of the country schools of that State. 

I am fortunate in being able to present these facts, 
as given to me by a gentleman amply qualified to speak 
on this subject — one who has been a pupil and a 
teacher in the country schools of Wisconsin, principal 
of a graded and small country high school, and for six 
and a half years county superintendent of schools. 

I asked him for information (facts, not opinions) 
as to the condition of the rural schools in his State, the 
cause or causes of these conditions, and the average 
amount of education received by the farmers' boys in 
the district schools of Wisconsin. The substance of 
this interview follows : 

A Strong Array of Facts. 

After referring in a general way to his work and 
his facilities for extended and close observation, my 
informant said : 

It is no secret that in Wisconsin we are a long, long 
way from the ideal country school, and the reason can 
be expressed in one word — neglect. In the past, and it is 
largely true to-day, the country school has been neglected 
by all who should have given it their fostering care. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 315 

But the neglect of the country school by State and 
educators is trivial compared with the almost criminal 
neglect of it by the farmers themselves. To one who 
hasn't seen it it is inconceivable. 

He then showed how niggardly the farmers have 
been in providing for their schools, how they have 
increased their school year and its requirements just 
enough to get their share of State money, and how 
they have searched far and wide in their efforts to get, 
not the best, but the cheapest teachers. On this point 
he cited the following typical example: 

I recall a very striking instance during my first year as 
county superintendent. Previously, a certain district had 
been having seven months' school and had paid $20 for 
the fall and spring terms of three months, and $25 for the 
winter of four months — a yearly salary of $160. 

I was ashamed to have a teacher under my supervision 
at such a salary. After directing a young woman of expe- 
rience to apply, I promised her that I would endeavor to 
keep all other applicants away, so that she could fight out 
the salary question unembarrassed by competition. She 
demanded the exorbitant sum of $30 a month. They 
couldn't aflford it; they would wait, and they did. The 
summer passed; no applicants. Fall came; they searched 
far and wide, but most schools had opened and all who 
wanted positions had them. 

Saving $5 a Year on the Teacher. 

Finally, about October i, they compromised on $25, fall 
and spring, and $30 for winter. To make the burden as 
easy to bear as possible, they took one month from the 
winter term and added it to the spring and fall terms, 
and thus saved $5. 

I presume you think that this was some small, poor 
district far removed from civilization. Far from it. It is 
two miles from a thriving city; land sells from $100 up; 
while the assessed valuation last year was $200,000. 



316 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

What kind of a school board was it? The clerk was 
a dealer in fancy blooded stock, which annually carries 
off premiums at the State and county fairs, and the other 
members were like unto him. 

A Condition Far Too General. 

I am ashamed to state in how many districts in Wis- 
consin at that time, and even now, the same experience 
might be duplicated in all its essential features. 

In connection with the statement that " the school- 
houses have been neglected in a manner to bring the 
blush of shame to any self-respecting citizen," and 
describing one of these buildings as a type of the worst 
results of such neglect, he thus pictured the teacher in 
charge : 

Her speech was ungrammatical, her preparation having 
extended but little beyond the completion of the course 
of study she was now trying to teach. I never saw any 
one who was working more earnestly, according to the 
light she had. She drove three miles each morning, took 
care of her horse, dug the wood from the snow, built her 
fires and swept — as far as possible — and for six hours 
strove to make those girls and boys into efficient citizens. 
Then she drove home to prepare her lessons for the 
morrow. And for those services, properly and faithfully 
rendered in educating future presidents, she received the 
munificent sum of $27.50 a month, a yearly salary 
of $192.50. 

The teacher's uncle was a county officer and an 
ex-teacher, and to him I related my discovery. He smiled 
and said: "It's just the same, then, as it was twenty- 
five years ago when I taught there and wore my overcoat 
during school hours to keep from freezing." 

Such conditions can be matched in every county in 
Wisconsin. In the new counties where buildings have 
been constructed recently, they, of course, are in fairly 
good condition. My district contained three like the one 
I have described, while several more were nearly as bad. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 317 

Every county superintendent with whom I have ever 
talked has practically admitted that he has had just such 
cases. 

An Inevitable Combination. 

It will be seen that poor buildings, inadequate equip- 
ment, a short school year and low salaries usually go 
together. 

After referring to the school grounds as being too 
small, the absence of beautifying buildings and 
grounds, and the fact that more than eighty-five per 
cent of the country teachers are their own janitors, he 
added : 

Such conditions are much more prevalent than they 
are supposed to be, than they ought to be. There is no 
use deluding ourselves. There are many districts where 
few or none of these conditions exist, but it is safe to say 
that sixty to seventy-five per cent of the country teachers 
to-day are laboring under conditions nearly as adverse. 

The State superintendent reports 2>7 teachers in 1908 
who received less than $20; 526 who received not to 
exceed $25; 1,820 not to exceed $30, and 2,691 not to 
exceed $35; a total of 5,074 who received $35 or less. 
It is safe to say that the vast majority of these were 
country teachers. If so, there were not more than 2,000 
teachers in all who received more than $35. 

Consider the work, the conditions for it, and the re- 
muneration, and is it any wonder that there are prac- 
tically none in the country schools to-day except the 
young, the untrained and the inexperienced? 

Just here let me mention one effort of my own to 
get at these country-school conditions. The Wiscon- 
sin Legislature of 1905 provided for a rural school 
inspector and specified his duties, part of which were 
to report to the State superintendent of public instruc- 
tion " the conditions found in the schools and districts 
inspected." 



318 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

Suppressed Reports. 

I wrote to Mr. C. P. Gary, State superintendent, 
asking for a copy of what this rural inspector had 
reported. The letter received from Mr. Gary did not 
give me the slightest information on this point, and I 
can get none from any other source. Why have these 
reports not been published ? I can come to no conclu- 
sion other than that this inspector's reports have been 
suppressed because they showed conditions so bad that 
it would be a disgrace to the State to make them 
public. 

In confirmation of this conclusion, I asked the 
gentlemen interviewed here about these reports, and he 
answered : " Any one who knows the man who held 
the office of inspector during the period covered by 
these reports knows that he found conditions, that he 
formed conclusions, that he had remedies. Why were 
they suppressed? Political cowardice is probably the 
answer." 

Why do these disgraceful conditions exist and per- 
sist? Who is to blame for them? 

My informant answered, placing the blame partly 
on the State at large, to a considerable extent on the 
University of Wisconsin, and most of all on the 
farmers themselves. He said : 

We have been so busy building, maintaining and 
blindly worshiping the so-called higher institutions of 
learning, that we have forgotten the school of the masses, 
the school of our fathers, the school where the real men, 
" the live wires," of to-day are supposed to have laid the 
foundation of their careers. We have lavished money 
upon our great university, dealt liberally with our nearly 
three hundred high schools, but have been miserly in our 
treatment of the country school. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 319 

Compared with the Price of a Cow. 

More money was recently expended by the university 
in the purchase of a cow for the dairy farm than was 
appropriated the last two years for all the professional 
literature and apparatus of the teachers' department. 

This department, by the way, is supposed to play 
a direct part in the making of teachers for the country 
schools. To continue the interview : 

The farmer has been too stingy to provide a first-class 
school. He has had the poorest when he should have had 
the best, because he can have the best for the least money. 
He has no expensive site or building to purchase and 
maintain. He can practically put all his money in a 
teacher. 

Theoretically, the farmer believes very strongly in 
education; practically, he doesn't, for what to him seem 
very good reasons. He does not take kindly to giving 
his boy a university education and having him drift off 
to the city, there to contribute his brawn, his brain, his 
honesty, to the city's cause and accumulate but little 
money, while his neighbor's son, whose education did 
not exceed beyond the fifth grade, has remained on the 
farm and accumulated his share of this world's goods. 

Drawing the Boy from the Farm. 

If every time a boy secures an education he is lost 
to his parents and the farm, the farmer naturally con- 
cludes that education is to blame. Between an ignorant 
boy on the farm and an educated boy away from the 
farm, he prefers the former. 

The State, the educational profession and the 
farmers are reaping as they sowed. Again to quote 
my informant : " They sowed neglect and niggardli- 
ness, and they reaped a school they themselves could 
not defend." 



320 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

How much of an education is the country boy 
receiving in such a school as his father has provided? 
" An easy, an interesting question, but, unfortu- 
nately, there is no data available," answers this county 
superintendent, after making a diligent inquiry. How- 
ever, from the results of this inquiry, he is able to show 
that not to exceed forty per cent of the country chil- 
dren reach the sixth grade, and that only one third of 
those who enter this grade complete the course. 

So far as statistics have been secured, it would 
appear that the average farmer's boy receives about 
one-half the education provided for him in the country 
schools, such as they are. And the gentleman quoted 
assures me that " it is entirely safe to say the efficiency 
of our country-school plant is not more than fifty per 
cent of what it should be, because of irregular attend- 
ance. Half of what we spend is wasted." 

If the farmer's lad is getting not more than an 
average of half what these exceedingly poor country 
schools provide in the way of education, and the effi- 
ciency of half of this is lost, perhaps some of the 
higher mathematicians of the university at Madison 
will inform us just how much real education he is 
getting. 

Education Given Farmers' Children. 

I quote from another county superintendent, who 
thus summarizes the education received in the country 
schools of Wisconsin — whose university is " literally 
teaching the entire 2,500,000 population of the State," 
according to Mr. Leichliter : 

Their (farmers' children) attendance at school is 
scarcely one hundred days a year and the instruction, for 
the most part, inefficient. Barely two-thirds advance 
beyond sixth grade. They are neither capable nor inclined 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 321 

to read, and, furthermore, they are required to labor so 
strenuously that there is little time for reading; they are 
being educated from the farm. There are very few- 
farmers who even know that there is any " literature of 
their calling," and these few don't know how to get it, 
and wouldn't read it if they had it. The farmer needs 
a collegiate course in general and the short course in 
agriculture in particular, that he may read the " litera- 
ture." Then, with the aid of the Century Dictionary and 
Encyclopedia Britannica for reference, he will get a little. 
The university is spending its energy in preparing young 
people to become high-school teachers, engineers, travel- 
ing salesmen and night clerks in hotels. Its high-school 
domination does tend to give the farmer boy and girl 
poorer teachers, but the latter proposition affects them 
little, if any. The conditions on our farms are such that 
the young people who have physical strength, pride and 
ambition make their "get-away" just as fast as God will 
permit. 
This county superintendent, by the way, is even 
more severe than I have been in criticising the sort of 
" Hterature " sent out by the agricultural department 
of the University of Wisconsin, the quality of educa- 
tion given to the farmers' children, and the ability of 
the farmers to understand what the professors at 
Madison prepare for them. 

Other States Far Ahead. 

Thus we see that, notwithstanding the boasts of its 
university, Wisconsin is sadly behind the times in the 
way of genuine public education. It lags far in the 
rear of several States. North Dakota, for instance, 
has a law that places the minimum wage of country 
school teachers at $45 a month for the second grade. 
Teachers of a higher grade must receive more. If a 
district is not able to pay this amount, it is required to 
draw upon the State treasurer for the difference. 

21 



322 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

Other States having a minimum wage law are: 
Indiana, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and 
Ohio. All of these States are far ahead of Wisconsin, 
yet their universities are not bragging about " teaching 
the entire population." 

The District Schools of Illinois. 

That this deplorable condition of the schools fur- 
nished for the common education of farmers' children 
is not peculiar to Wisconsin is evident from two 
addresses delivered by Professor Davenport, dean of 
the Illinois College of Agriculture, the one entitled 
" Education for Efficiency," the other, " The Next 
Step in Agricultural Education." And to this I shall 
add the testimony of Mr. A. F. Nightingale, superin- 
tendent of education for Cook county, Illinois. 

Professor Davenport condemns the old-fashioned 
colleges, with nothing but classical courses, but con- 
siders the ordinary college a most desirable thing when 
it is combined with industry and the practical affairs 
of Hfe. 

He believes that the education should be carried 
to the pupil ; that young men and young women should 
be able to attend school and still be at home nights. 
He argues this is practical for high schools, but not 
for colleges. Apparently in the latter there is no help 
for the boy and girl being taken away from home. Mr. 
Davenport's main argument seems to be that all sub- 
jects should be taught in the same school, whereas in 
all other lines the great idea is to " specialize." 

" Barking " for the " Side Shows." 

Dean Davenport has gone in head over heels for 
what President Hadlev has called the " side shows *' 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 323 

that are eating up the main circus. The higher educa- 
tionists appear to have a strong desire to work in 
the " side shows " of education. They recognize that 
the main show is played out and that it is only by the 
aid of the " side shows " they can hold their positions. 

So the chief effort now is to make these " side 
shows " seem to be not only most important, but that 
without them the country will " go to the dogs." This 
is the latest device for " pulling the wool " over the 
public's eyes. 

The educational " side-show " advocates overlook 
the fact that the country has got along very well 
up to the present without their aid, and that the people 
who are most interested in this subject of education — 
real education — don't seem to be attracted by the 
" side-show barkers." The school faddists seem to 
think that they know better what the public needs 
than it does itself, and they are determined to furnish 
it, whether the public wants it or not. 

Among other things, Dean Davenport insists on 
maintaining the four years' course in agriculture. I 
can not conceive how he can imagine that this four 
years' course — which means practically twelve years 
more of schooling than the average farmer gets — is 
going to make it pleasant or desirable for the farmer's 
boy to go back to milking cows, feeding pigs, cleaning 
stables, and the other drudgery of the farm. Not only 
has the lad been spoiled for these necessary tasks, but 
for any other sphere of useful life. 

From Professor Davenport's point of view there is 
pressing demand for these " side shows," especially 
that of agriculture. I question the correctness of this 
assertion, as only one in every 130 farmers' boys goes 
as far as the county high schools. Thus there would 



324 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

be only one in 130 who could consistently make a 
demand for an agricultural college course. Is it for 
this one boy in 130 that Mr. Davenport recommends 
that the county high schools teach " soil physics " and 
" soil fertility," and maintain " laboratory fields in 
crop production " ? 

How under the sun does he expect that boys who 
have had only four years in the none too good district 
schools can understand these things ? From these sub- 
jects not even educated farmers can get any benefit. 

Working at the Wrong End. 

Dean Davenport certainly is working on the wrong 
end of the educational problem, and the gross incon- 
sistency of his position is apparent when we consider 
the vast difference between the condition of the coun- 
try common schools and those he so strongly favors. 

The facts are simply these : The farmers' boys, 
instead of getting the high school and college schooling 
he claims they ought to have, are not getting on the 
average more than four years of district-school edu- 
cation. He seems to be disgusted with the high schools 
for being preparatory schools for colleges, instead of 
serving the public directly ; but he says not one word 
throughout these addresses about the deplorable and 
inefficient condition of the district schools. He is 
deeply solicitous for the one boy that gets as far as 
the high school, but has no sympathy for the 129 poor 
devils who get but a little district-school education. 

It is the same with all the higher educators. They 
are willing to sacrifice an enormous amount of the best 
blood of our youths to maintain their position, and are 
taking thousands of young men, who might be 
employed at something useful, and making miserable 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 325 

failures of them, simply that indifferent school teachers 
may hold their jobs. 

After looking at this fancy picture drawn by Dean 
Davenport, of what he considers education should be, 
" higher up," let us glance at the condition of educa- 
tion " lower down," as painted by Mr. Nightingale, 
superintendent of schools for Cook county, Illinois. 
Here we have the difference between theory and prac- 
tice. 

Testimony of A. F. Nightingale. 

In his report covering the period from July i, 1902, 
to June 30, 1904, Mr. Nightingale says : 

Here is a problem which well-nigh defies solution. 
Consecrated to the work as one may be, he finds that the 
most herculean efforts, the largest possible expenditure 
of thought and time, however rich his equipment, however 
extended his self-sacrifice, however honest his plans and 
however determined his purpose, will not bring those 
results which he so ardently hopes to see and which are 
the inspiration of his thoughts by day and the burden of 
his dreams by night. 

To the farmer the recurrence of the seasons means 
the recurrence of seed-sowing, and through his labor and 
watchfulness and incessant care, with the added helps of 
the rains that fertilize and the sunshine that ripens, there 
comes a bountiful harvest. 

The seeds of unremitting effort sown to produce a 
satisfactory rural school harvest, however, find germina- 
tion very difficult. The rains seem to chill and the sun 
seems to wither them. * * * 

There are still so-called school buildings in Cook 
county, as I presume in every county, which would make 
neither good sheepfolds nor excellent dog-kennels. They 
are antiquated, shabby, shop-worn, obsolescent and obso- 
lete. They never were fit dwelling-places for human 
bodies or human souls for six hours in a day. * * * 

Many schools are without supplementary reading, 



326 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

without libraries, without maps, without charts, without 
well-chosen, well-graded and uniform text-books, with- 
out anything to encourage and uplift or inspire. 

Mr. Nightingale also points out in strong terms the 
shortsighted and niggardly policy that has prevailed 
in the employment and treatment of teachers in these 
rural schools. He says in substance that not only are 
the salaries ridiculously small ($40 to $45 a month for 
only about seven months in the year), but that the 
teachers have to board at very inferior places among 
the farmers, often have to walk quite a distance to 
and from school in all kinds of weather, and are 
required to perform all sorts of drudgery, such as 
cutting the kindling, carrying coal or wood, building 
their own fires and cleaning their own schoolhouses. 
He adds : 

Is it any wonder that only the inexperienced and in- 
competent or, in other words, the mediocre among teach- 
ers, will accept these positions, and that they seldom 
remain in one place more than one season? 

In Mr. Nightingale's next report (July i, 1904, to 
June 30, 1906), he takes the ground that these schools 
have continued to go backward, that the trustees are 
striking harder bargains with the teachers, and that 
the teachers are of less account and their surroundings 
more discouraging than formerly. He continues : 

If the farmers or the men in any kind of business who 
hire teachers should till their fields and manage their 
afifairs as they supervise the schools, they would reap in 
the autumn time less than they sowed in the springtime, 
and the balance on their ledgers at the close of the year 
would be on the wrong side. 

Speaking of the country children, he asks : 

Why is it that the schools which they attend, with 
notable exceptions, seem to repress rather than impress. 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 327 

to dull rather than sharpen their wits, and to leave them 
at the end of the year with the merest modicum of in- 
teresting and profitable knowledge? There are many 
reasons, and, sad to say, potent reasons. 

He then calls attention to the defects already men- 
tioned, such as poorly paid teachers, their short tenure, 
etc., and adds : 

I invite the attention of every one concerned in these 
rural schools to these startling facts. From them I can 
draw but one conclusion — never, never, never, until this 
slight tenure of office is changed radically, will these 
schools along the countryside, in this county or any other 
count}^ rise above the low level of a most discouraging 
mediocrity. 

In his next and latest report (July i, 1906, to June 
30, 1908), Mr. Nightingale has considerable more to 
say on this subject, the substance of his remarks being 
that, with very few exceptions, no progress has been 
made in the rural schools, which, as he says truly, is 
" exceedingly discouraging," 



328 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

A SUGGESTION TO RURAL SCHOOL AUTHORITIES. 

In view of the conditions just shown, I think if 
the people who have the rural educational matters of 
Wisconsin and Illinois — and doubtless other States — 
in hand were honest in their treatment of teachers, 
they would post in their Normal schools something 
like this : 



The State is greatly in need of teachers for rural 
schools and offers the following terms to young 
women to become teachers : 

They must pass examination, and also 

must have six months' practical training in teaching. 
Salary for the first year to be from $20 to $25 a 
month, for seven months of the year. 

Besides being qualified teachers they are ex- 
pected to be persons of character, and also must have 
the ability to maintain order and discipline in the 
schoolroom. 

They will be expected to clean the schools, cut 
kindling, make fires, and see that the school is prop- 
erly ventilated. They will also shovel snow, etc. 

They can usually find board near the schoolhouse 
at about $3 a week. They will be expected not to 
complain at having to associate with farm-hands and 
spend their evenings in the kitchen. 



I understand that district-school boards find it diffi- 
cult to get enough teachers for these schools. If this 
is so, surely the foregoing liberal offer ought to bring 
plenty of material, in view of the magnificent reward 
offered for the time and money spent in acquiring an 
education. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER. 

To sum up this whole matter : All general school- 
ing above the public grammar schools is worse than 
useless. This higher schooling not only does not 
improve a person for business, but it does not 
strengthen or develop his character. It has just the 
opposite effect, disqualifying him for a business career, 
weakening his moral structure, and highly demoraliz- 
ing him in every way. 

As for the technical and special schools, I am 
greatly surprised to find that all these branches of 
education are so deficient, wasteful, and of so little use, 
as my investigations have shown to be the case. No 
one with any practical knowledge of the subject will 
claim that there is anything but a limited use for them. 
It is safe to say that we could get along perfectly well 
with but few of such schools, and that ninety per cent 
of all the enormous expenditure of time and money 
demanded by higher education is worse than wasted. 

On the other hand, glance around and see what 
has been accomplished, and still is being done, by the 
practical men who have not had any of the artificial 
aid of the higher educators. These are the men, it is 



330 TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 

safe to say, who have increased the productiveness of 
the world at least ten times, and who have added to 
our enjoyment of life in proportion at least equally 
great. These are the men who have done things, not 
talked about doing them or tried to show how they 
should be done. 

Look, for instance, at what the practical man, the 
inventor and the manufacturer, have done for the 
farmer. Every implement and machine he uses has 
come from the men who work in and manage factories. 
How would the farmer like to go back fifty years and 
be stripped of all these labor-saving devices? Let him 
compare what the practical man has done for agri- 
culture and what the agricultural colleges have done. 

The college men talk as though they knew all about 
every other man's business, and that they could man- 
age affairs better than the business men themselves. 
The college professors and teachers are prepared to 
give advice on all subjects. As $2,ooo-a-year teachers 
they tell us how to turn out $5,000- and $io,ooo-a-year 
business men. 

Isn't it a bit strange that it never has occurred to 
these smart college fellows to go into business for 
themselves? Why draw a small salary for telling 
young men how to draw big salaries if you are capable 
of drawing the big salary yourself? 

The business world is sadly in need of men of 
brains and talent. These things bring a large premium, 
and every prominent business man is on the alert to 
secure them. 

I believe I have shown clearly that higher school- 
ing does not make either brains or ability. And as 
these are the only things that count in any of life's 
activities, what use can we have for the higher schools ? 



TECHNICAL AND SPECIAL SCHOOLING. 331 

As these schools, then, are not needed, they can 
not be anything but a curse, as one English writer calls 
them. 

It is conservative to estimate that the expense of 
higher education to this nation must be at least $ioo,- 
000,000 a year. And this enormous sum is literally 
thrown away, much to the injury of the country and 
its people. 

For this vast waste of money means blood drawn 
right from the people, blankets taken from their bed.s, 
food from their tables, coal from their cellars, cloth- 
ing from their backs — all in the line of sacrifice on 
the altar of higher education. 

I think it is high time that the American people 
realized this, for I believe if they once became fully 
aroused on this matter, they would take steps to compel 
the higher educators to go to work and earn an honest 
living. If the professors can tell us how to raise corn 
or build bridges or dig tunnels or run factories or man- 
age stores, then in the name of common sense let us 
give them a chance to show us how these things should 
be done. 



